Prodigy
by Pluv143000
Summary: Anna Stark was definitely her father's daughter. The two were more similar than Anna would care to admit. It wasn't just her suit or smarts that made her special-that made her a hero. It was her heart. And that is what truly made her a Prodigy. This will eventually be a Steve Rogers (Captain America)/OC story. First story in Avengers series.
1. Prologue

The moment Tony Stark held his baby girl in his arms for the first time was the best moment of his life. He sat at the bedside of his long-term girlfriend, Sofia, looking down at the beautiful little girl. Wide eyes gazed up at him, silently and all he could do was smile.

The twenty-year-old genius had never thought he was going to be a father so early in his life. He was young and still reckless and now he had the responsibility of taking care of a tiny human being. Tony had been terrified at the thought of being a father, especially since his relationship with his own father was so strained. He was scared.

All the worried thoughts about being a new parent faded away though as he held his daughter in his arms. Glancing up at Sofia, he saw a tired, yet happy, smile grace her features.

"She's going to look like you," Tony said. Sofia laughed.

"I don't think so Tony. If anything she'll be the perfect mix of each of us." Tony started to laugh as well, shaking his head.

"What? Beautiful and kind like her mother, and a smart ass like her father?" Sofia laughed harder before sobering up some.

"No," she stated simply, "And watch your language, we have a kid now."

Sofia was always the more mature out of the two of them. She was a little older than Tony was, but only by a year or so. The couple had met while Tony was attending his last year at MIT. Sofia attended the university as well though she was just a freshman when they met. Tony was intriguing to her. Someone only a year younger than herself was getting ready to graduate the prestigious school while she was only beginning her time there.

Sofia had wandered into one of the labs to work on her midterm project when they had first met. Tony was well… himself, but Sofia did not back down. She was a formidable opponent when it came to battles of wit. That was what made her intriguing to Tony.

Sofia continued her previous thought, "Our daughter will be beautiful and kind and courageous and ridiculously smart like her parents. She will be everything we ever dreamed of and she'll have two parents who love her very much." She smiled at her daughter who had drifted off to sleep in Tony's arms.

Tony met his girlfriend's eyes and leaned in to give her a chaste kiss. "Well what are we going to name our perfect daughter then?" he asked looking back down at the bundle in his arms. Sofia chuckled.

"I was thinking that we should name her after our mothers. Annabel Maria Stark." Tony's gaze shot up to hers again. His eyes glistened slightly, tears beginning to well up. Less than three months prior, Tony's parents, Howards and Maria Stark perished in a car accident. While his relationship with his father had not been the best, he loved his mother very much. Sofia's mother, Annabel, had passed on as well around two years before their daughter's birth and Sofia never knew her father.

"It's perfect," he said with a smile. After everything that Tony had been through the past few months, it was nice for things to start improving. At least for the time being.

* * *

Over the next few months, the couple and their daughter were faced with more and more challenges. On his twenty-first birthday, a couple months after the birth of their daughter, Tony officially inherited Stark Industries. Now being a father was not the only big responsibility he had. With Tony busy solidifying his position with the company, Sofia took care of Anna. The birth had taken more of a toll on her than she let on. It seemed as though she never fully recovered. By December of 1992, around the anniversary of Howard and Maria Stark's accident, it became clear that something was seriously wrong with Sofia.

She was not able to keep any food down, which caused her to lose weight and become malnourished, and was always fatigued. After only a week or so, she was admitted into the hospital for observation. Tony flew the best doctors in, hoping that they could figure out what was wrong with Sofia. However, the doctors were all baffled and could not come up with a definitive answer.

Tony was put in an uncomfortable position. He was distraught due to Sofia's deteriorating condition. He was stressed from running his company. He was struggling to find balance in this chaos so he could care for Anna.

A month later, on January 20, 1993, Tony went to visit Sofia in the hospital. Her eyes were barely cracked open and her breathing was shallow.

"Tony," she spoke softly, the corners of her lips tilting up in a smile. He tried to smile back but it was a sad smile. He sat down at her bedside and could not help but think about that the last time he was in this position he was holding their newborn daughter. Her smile started to fade as she noticed his forlorn expression. "I'm so sorry Tony. I'm sorry that I won't be there for you. I'm sorry I won't be there for our daughter."

"Stop apologizing. There's nothing for you to be sorry for. And stop acting like you're going to die. You're not going anywhere!" His sadness turned into a desperate sort of frustration at the thought of losing Sofia.

"Okay," she said to calm him down. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him. The two spoke about anything but her condition for the rest of the night. Tony told her how Anna was already an overachiever and that she had begun to pull herself into a standing position and try to walk. Sofia laughed at that. Figures that Anna would take after her father and start to learn things quickly. She was not even eleven months old yet. Finally, the couple fell asleep, Sofia in her hospital bed and Tony in the chair beside it since Anna was at home with the nanny.

It was about three in the morning when Tony was woken up by and annoying and long beep. He opened his eyes groggily before jumping out of his chair and looking at the heart monitor.  
"Help! Someone help!" he shouted running to the door to grab a doctor to help them. What was only a few seconds felt like hours before doctors flooded into the room.

A nurse ushered him into the hallway so that the doctors could try to revive Sofia. Again time seemed to go slower than reality. A doctor came out a few minutes later.

The doctor stood in front of Tony who was sitting on a bench in the hallway. "Mr. Stark, I'm sorry but—," Tony did not have to hear anymore. He knew what the doctor was going to say. Tony stood up and walked down the hall in a daze.

Sofia was gone. He was now a single father with no one to help raise Anna. Anna was going to grow up without the one person a young girl should have in her life, her mother. Tony did not know what he was going to do. He was lost now.

* * *

 **I know I shouldn't be posting another new story but bear with me. I've seen Civil War twice already and it pushed me to finally publish this. I've had the idea since the first Avengers came out. Eventually Steve will come into the story but I wanted to develop Anna first which is why I'm starting in Iron Man and not just doing flashbacks. Once Steve is introduced, it will be a slow burn but I hope you all enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Shout out to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! I wasn't expecting such a big response but thank you to everyone who took the time to read.**

 **Review Replies:**

James (Guest) **: Thank you! I hope this chapter lives up to expectations. I love Civil War and when it gets to that point of the story there will be a lot of heartbreak. I don't know why I'm gonna put myself through that but I'm excited for it nonetheless**

TabloidTeen **: Thank you! Here's the next chapter!**

Guest #2 **: The inspiration is with me so I hope to keep updating frequently now that I'm done with school for the year.**

starkdfrey **: Glad you liked it! They are going to have a dynamic relationship that changes overtime since Tony isn't your everyday dad. Hope you enjoy it going forward!**

 **Again, thank you! Here's the chapter!**

* * *

Annabel Stark was happy to be home. Despite her rocky relationship with her father, Malibu was still the place she longed to be while she was away at MIT. Anna was truly following in her father's footsteps. At only seventeen, she was preparing to graduate from the university in a couple weeks.

Though after the last few months of being away at school, you would think her father would want to be here to welcome her home right? Of course you would think that, because that is what a normal father would be doing. However, Tony Stark was not a normal father. Instead, Tony was in Vegas getting some award that he probably would not even show up to accept.

Anna got out of the town car that picked her up from the family airstrip and walked up to the front door. She approached the door and looked up at the camera aimed where she was standing.

"Hey JARVIS I'm home!" she told the AI system.

"Welcome home Miss Stark," the AI greeted politely. Anna opened the door and headed up to her room to start unpacking. When Anna had decided to come home for Memorial Day weekend to work on her graduation project and to study for the last few finals she had, she had taken the opportunity to start bringing home some of her belongings from her dorm.

About halfway through the first suitcase, Anna got bored. Discarding the shirt, that she had just pulled out, onto her bed, the teenage genius made her way down to the workshop to work on project.

Before her father graduated MIT, he was able to make great advancements in AI technology. Anna, on the other hand was going in a different direction for her final project. Throughout the semester she had been playing around with electromagnetic suspension and its uses in transportation. Originally, she had created a bicycle. The bike was fast, very fast, but not fast enough according to Anna. Eventually after weeks and weeks of slaving over her project, which was merely mediocre in her eyes, she got an idea. Instead of using the electromagnetic disks she created in a bicycle, she would make the wheels individual, like roller skates. Not only would that speed it up, since the wheels were no longer dependent on the stiff frame of the bike, but it would make the physical maneuvering of them more fluid. She had managed to create boots that would hold the suspension so far and now she was just working on the speed again. To make it faster than her bicycle had been.

Anna set up a spot at one of the desks in the workshop and got to work right away. Hours passed as she diligently worked on her project, producing more and more discs that failed to meet her speed standards. Eventually, JARVIS started to nag her about eating something. Finally giving in to his requests, the teenager made her way back upstairs, to get something to eat. After looking through the desolate cabinets and refrigerator, she settled on a bowl of cereal, since it was pretty much all they had.

"JARVIS turn on the TV." The TV clicked on. She might as well watch something. Maybe the news was covering her dad's award. "JARVIS, is Tony's award on?"

"It is Miss Stark. Would you like me to put it on?"

"Yes, please."

Anna caught it right as Rhodey was beginning his speech, "As a liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot." Anna let out a snort of laughter. Yeah right, a patriot. He was really something when you compared him to the soldiers who risked their lives for the country. Please, note the sarcasm. Rhodey's speech made him seem like frickin' Captain America. "He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark." Everyone in the audience started clapping. Anna found herself looking around the crowd on the screen just as Rhodey was. The light shined on the table where her father was supposed to be sitting. She shook her head in disappointment as Rhodey called out for Tony again. Anna knew he was not going to show up. It almost scared her how well she knew her father.

When Tony failed to go up and accept the award, his business partner, Obadiah Stane, went up in his place. "Thank you Colonel." Rhodey whispered something to Obadiah before the older man started again, "This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful… Well, I'm not Tony Stark. But if I were Tony, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Tony, you know… The best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working." Anna shook her head at the TV again and went to put her bowl in the dishwasher.

Obadiah was a nice enough guy. He helped Anna's grandfather Howard, whom Anna had never met, start Stark Industries. He was a good advisor to her father too. Where Tony was reckless and irresponsible, Obadiah was organized and efficient. In simple terms, he picked up the slack and kept Tony on track. The award ceremony was just one example of their work dynamic.

Anna sighed, "JARVIS turn the TV off." Just as she was about to head back to the workshop, JARVIS stopped her.

"Miss Stark, it appears that Miss Potts just pulled up." I turned around and walked back to the living room. A few minutes later, Pepper walked through the front door. "Good evening Miss Potts."

"Hello JARVIS," Pepper said politely as Anna stood to greet the woman who practically raised her since she had been hired. Pepper may only be her father's assistant but she was like family to Anna.

"Hey Pep, what are you doing here?" Anna asked curiously. If her father was in Vegas, then why was Pepper here?

"Your father gave me the night off. I tried to argue with him but then I figured with Stane around he may just behave himself. But, then I remembered that you were coming home today so I decided to swing by," the older woman replied simply. "Now get over here and give me a hug." Anna rushed over and engulfed Pepper in a big hug causing them to both start laughing and for Pepper to teeter slightly in her heels. "It's good to have you home! I think I was beginning to go crazy, having to deal with your father alone." The two continued laughing as they pulled apart.

"Well, Tony does have that affect on people. Speaking of him, I think he took advantage of not having you watching over him tonight. Despite being surrounded by mature and responsible adults, he _still_ didn't show up for his award." Pepper sighed, frustrated towards her boss.

"I swear he wouldn't even be able to tie his shoes without me. He can't just not show up for things—," Pepper ranted before Anna cut her off.

"Pep as much as I would love to hear you complain about Tony, I've been back for six hours and haven't seen another person until you showed up. Can we just relax and watch a movie and catch up?"

"Of course, sorry Anna. I'll start the popcorn and get the snacks ready, you go grab the movies." Anna ran up to her room to grab the movies and change into her pajamas. She hurried back downstairs to see Pepper sitting on the couch with her legs tucked up under her. "What movie are we watching?" the strawberry-blonde asked.

"Uh, duh, _The Devil Wears Prada_."

* * *

When the movie finished, Pepper announced that she better head home. "Don't worry; I'll be back bright and early tomorrow. Your father has a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan and will be leaving pretty early." Pepper noticed Anna's dejected look. She stepped towards the seventeen-year-old and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure Tony will be back soon so he can visit with you a bit before you head back for finals."

"Figures I pick his busiest weekend to come home." Anna took a deep breath to calm herself. "Yeah I'm sure he'll be home soon too. Though I doubt he'll be alone," Anna muttered the last part to herself but Pepper overheard.

Pepper smiled sadly at the girl, "Like I said, I'll be here nice and early. I'll even help you take out the trash." The corners of Anna's lips quirked up in a half smile.

"Thanks Pep." They hugged one last time before Pepper went home for the night.

Anna quickly headed up to bed. She was not even sure how she had managed to stay up this late anyway with the time difference between Massachusetts and California. As she got ready for bed, she thought about what life might have been like if her mom wouldn't have died. It was extremely depressing to think about and Anna hated herself for doing it, but sometimes she just couldn't help but wonder. People at MIT immediately assumed that she led some charmed life, being the daughter of Tony Stark, when in reality, she would kill to have a boring, normal dad who was there to greet her when she came home.

* * *

For how late she went to sleep, Anna woke up excruciatingly early. And the worse part was, she couldn't fall back asleep. Wiping the sleep away from her eyes, the brunette teen rolled out of bed and slid on her fuzzy slippers, not bothering to change. JARVIS' voice rang out, telling her the time and weather, "Good morning, Miss Stark. It's 6:43 a.m. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m."

"Thank you JARVIS. Is Tony home?" she asked, raking a hand through her hair, trying to make it look even a little bit better.

"Why yes, Miss Stark. He is currently in the workshop."

"Thanks." Anna paused for a minute before asking. "Is anyone else here?"

She already knew the answer to the question before JARVIS answered it. "There is a Miss Christine Everhart in Mr. Stark's bedroom and Miss Potts has just arrived." Unfortunately, it was expected that her father would've returned home last night with some random woman.

She sat down on her bed and pulled out her electronic tablet, searching Christine Everhart. After discovering numerous articles written by her, all Anna could do was shake her head. Of course her dad would be reckless enough to sleep with an investigative journalist, of course. Tossing the tablet to the side, she rose from her bed and headed out to the kitchen. She wanted to eat her cereal in peace before Miss Everhart would, undoubtedly, ruin her morning.

The whole way to the kitchen, Anna saw no sign of Pepper and the absence of the strawberry-blonde continued while she ate her breakfast. Depositing her bowl in the sink, Anna got up to search for Pepper, risking a possible run in with the blonde journalist her father brought home.

Wandering into the living area, Anna noticed Christine walking around in her father's shirt. Scoffing in disgust and frustration, the young brunette sucked it up and walked into the room just as the other woman touched an access panel on the wall.

"You are not authorized to access this area," JARVIS said, startling the blonde.

"Jesus!"

Anna chose then to make her presence known. "That's JARVIS. He runs the house." Again, Christine was startled by Anna's sudden presence behind her.

"You must be the famous Annabel Stark, child prodigy." Anna shook her head and gave Christine a look that said 'your point?'

"Well, duh. I am the only teenager here." Anna didn't really care if she came off rude. Who was this woman going to tell anyway? If Miss Everhart ever tried to speak about Anna's cold attitude towards her, the teen could just say it was because the blonde was just mad for being another of her dad's one-night-stands.

"I can't believe I'm meeting the ever elusive daughter of Tony Stark. I'd love to interview you sometime," the blonde woman continued, with a sly smirk.

Anna straight up laughed. "Oh, you mean interrogate me. That's what it truly is, isn't it? You trying to get me to spill some gory details about my father and Stark Industries so that you can try to further your career." Christine's smirk dropped, turning into a frown. "I looked you up Christine. I very well know your stance on what Stark Industries does. Have you ever thought that maybe if you journalists didn't make us the story, we wouldn't be on such high pedestals? It's technically your fault we're so famous. So you can try and blame us for doing what we do, but just know that you're the ones that bring it all into the limelight and glorifying it." At the blonde's silence, Anna continued. "Just remember Miss Everhart, I'm seventeen, not seven, and I'm a genius. Next time you try and take advantage of a situation like this… Don't." Anna finished and saw Pepper out of the corner of her eye. Leaving the woman, who was like a mother to her, to 'take out the trash,' she went to go change.

After changing into a long sleeve tee and a worn pair of jeans, Anna made her way to the workshop. Pepper and her father were both down there when she arrived. Greeting Pepper first, she gave the woman a hug, "Sorry I didn't say anything earlier, but… Happy Birthday!" She handed Pepper a small box that she had discreetly set down before she hugged the strawberry-blonde. The brunette watched on as the older woman opened her gift.

"Thank you so much!" The strawberry-blonde exclaimed in awe as she looked at the sapphire earrings that Anna had given her.

"It's no biggie. Those are the same ones that you saw in that boutique—," Pepper cut her off and finished her sentence.

"When I visited you last month up at school." She looked up at Anna, holding back tears at the nice gift. "Thank you."

The two hugged again before Anna turned to her father. "So what did you get Pepper?" Tony froze for a millisecond before responding.

"Something very… nice, and very tasteful." Anna locked eyes with Pepper again and they simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"Well," Pepper started, "I'm going to head out and enjoy my birthday." She looked to Tony, "Please leave soon, before Rhodey has to hunt you down." She then turned to Anna. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? We'll have a nice girls' day before you have to go back to school."

"Sounds good, Pep. See ya." Once his assistant was gone, Tony turned towards his daughter.

"So, I checked out your project. It's coming along great. What's your top speed?"

"Thanks. Hopefully it's at about fifty miles per hour by now but I won't know for sure until I test it," she replied, walking to her desk that was cluttered with all her gear.

"Only fifty?! Really?! I was sure it'd be higher than that by now," he exclaimed, going back to working on his car. Anna sighed.

"It would've been, but when I changed it from a bike to skates, I pretty much had to start over with smaller discs. The bike discs were too large and hard to maneuver once I suspended them from the boots. Now I'm trying to get the speed back up." She could see her father nod out of the corner of her eye.

It went silent for a bit before Tony finally decided to put his car parts aside and actually do what he was told for once, which was go to the airport. "Hey," he called out to Anna, catching her attention. "You wanna race me to the airport and see me off?"

Huffing in frustration, her snarky attitude resurfaced, "I would _love_ to dad but I'm working. Maybe if you would've actually been here when I came home, I would consider it."

"Hey, that was not my fault. I had an award ceremony," he defended.

"An award ceremony that you didn't even go to! Obi had to accept it for you because you were off doing… whatever the hell you were doing!" His complete lack of responsibility was making her angrier by the second. "If you were just gonna skip out on it, you could've at least been here to welcome me home! I haven't seen you in, like, two, almost, three months!"

"Kiddo, look—," he tried to cut in but Anna was on a roll.

"And then when you do come home, it's with some bimbo, who's just looking for her next big story. It's like you forgot that I was even gonna be here this weekend! And you forgot Pepper's birthday too! How long have you known each other? Not to mention you keep blowing off MIT when they try to talk to you about your speech for commencement this year; my graduation year! You're just so selfish!" she turned away from her dad, going back to working on her project. "But, have fun with your weapons demonstration, Tony."

* * *

Anna was sitting on her bed a couple hours later, editing the report for her project. Her father had already left—finally—for his weapons demonstration in Afghanistan.

She was vigorously typing away on her laptop when her cell rang. Looking down at the caller ID, the brunette sighed before answering.

"Yes, Jake?" Anna answered, pushing her computer to the foot of her bed and leaning back against her pillows.

"Wow. You sound so happy to hear from me," he responded sarcastically making Anna smile to herself. "How's the project going?"

"Okay. I'm just going over the formal report right now. It's very tedious work," she answered with a tired chuckle at the end.

"Cool. I'm grabbing something to eat now. When was the last time I saw the sun? I honestly don't even know. I've been in the lab so long," he whined. "When are you coming back? I want you to look it over for me."

"Jake, I've been gone for like a day. Are you really that lost without me?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"I should have expected you wouldn't deny it. I'm leaving Monday since I can afford to miss class for one day."

"Cool. Cool. So how's everything at home? How's Pepper and Rhodey? And… your dad?" Jake knew that Anna's relationship with her father was not the best. The two were incredibly similar but Tony's narcissistic tendencies sometimes got in the way of being a parent.

"It's Pepper's birthday so she's either out celebrating or at home relaxing… probably the latter. Tony forgot about it so she had to buy herself something. Rhodey's good. He's on his way to Afghanistan with Tony. And well, if you couldn't tell by my tone, Tony is himself as usual." Her terse words conveyed how her trip home had gone so far. It made Jake cringe on the other end of the line. Jake was the one person who knew Anna well enough to know that her life was not at all perfect.

The line was quite for a second as Jake tried to come up with a good response. He didn't want to say he was sorry since he knew Anna didn't want a pity party. Before he got the chance, Anna spoke again.

"Hey, I got to go. You mentioned food earlier and now I'm hungry. Good luck on your project! See you in a few days," she quickly said. She hung up before letting Jake respond. She didn't mean to be rude, she was still just a little sour from her talk with her dad earlier.

* * *

Anna was back down in the workshop after eating the Chinese food she ordered. While her father was gone for his weapons test, she would be doing a test of her own.

She was highly padded, wearing almost three layers of clothing over her entire body to make sure that if she wiped out that there would be no severe damage done to her. She grabbed a motorcycle helmet off the table and secured it on her head. The last thing she needed was her electromagnetic, friction-resistant skates. The disks that would act as the wheels were sitting on the table in front of her, ready to go as soon as she was finished attaching her boots. Once her metal boots were fastened tightly around her feet, she turned on the electromagnet inside. One foot at a time, she placed the disks against the boots so they were suspended in magnetic levitation. Anna held herself against the table to check her balance. When she was able to stand on her own, she knew it was time for a test drive.

As soon as she started to push off, her right skate slipped out from under her, sending her straight to the ground. "Ugh," she groaned, sitting up, "That hurt." Dum-E came over and helped her off the ground while U stayed where he was, recording Anna's test. She never knew why her father would get so angry at the robots, they were usually very helpful for her.

She regained her balance before letting go of Dum-E. This time went much smoother. She picked up enough speed, going about twenty miles per hour according to the speedometer on her wrist, around the workshop. Zipping around the track she had cleared for herself, she was proud at how the test run was going so far. So, she decided to kick it up a notch.

Comfortable at her previous speed, she kicked it up to about thirty miles per hour, and then forty. Any lightweight and loose items that had been sitting around the lab started to get picked up and whipped around due to the air that was being pushed throughout the workshop due to her speed. It was reckless to go at such a speed in a confined and relatively small space like the workshop but Anna wanted to push the limits of her tech.

JARVIS, who was ever present in the Stark household, decided to warn her, "Miss Stark, your increasing speed seems to be causing the magnets to falter. I must advise you to slow down."

Anna was too absorbed in her project to take notice of what JARVIS was warning her about. That is, until it was too late.

Her left wheel started to shake, its magnet too weak to sustain the magnetic force between it and the boot due to the heightening speeds. Before Anna had a chance to slow down, the disk disconnected from the boot, sending the teen across the room. She hit the floor, her left shoulder taking a majority of the impact, and skidded to a stop.

"And I thought that last fall hurt." After taking a second to lay there, she went to lift herself into a sitting position but a sharp pain shot through the shoulder she had landed on. "JARVIS, call a car please. I think I need to go to the hospital."

"Right away Miss Stark." While JARVIS called a town car, she removed her boots as quickly as possible without straining her injured arm. "The car is on its way Miss Stark."

"Thanks JARVIS," she replied to the AI, while Dum-E wheeled over to help her up again. She turned towards U, who was still recording, "That's a wrap, U. Shut it off."

* * *

The next morning, Anna was woken up at six thirty in the morning when JARVIS announced that Pepper had arrived at the mansion. Carefully removing herself from her covers, she got out of bed and walked over to her dresser where her arm sling was. Apparently, all her padding hadn't been able to prevent her from dislocating her shoulder. The doctor said it could take up to six weeks to heal, but Anna didn't have time for that. She had a project to perfect. The brunette would give it two weeks tops.

After securing her arm, she grabbed her pain medication and walked to the kitchen. It was there where she ran into a hysterical Pepper.

"Anna! There you are! Did—Wait, what did you to do your arm?" she frantically asked the younger girl.

Anna eyed the older woman with worry, confused as to why Pepper was so panicked. "I just dislocated it. It's fine."

"What?! Why didn't they call me? I'm your emergency contact when your father is gone."

"I didn't want to disrupt you on your birthday so I had them call Happy since he's also on my contact list." She relaxed slightly when Anna mentioned Happy, glad that someone was there for her.

"Okay but don't ever worry about disrupting me, okay? Your way more important than a birthday that will come around again next year."

"Alright," Anna answered, a warm feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She knew she cared about Pepper immensely; Pepper was like the mother she never got to know, but it was nice to hear just how much Pepper cared about her. Even if all the fuss was over a dislocated shoulder.

"Now," the younger girl started again, "You were upset before you saw my arm. What's wrong?"

Pepper knew she had to tell Anna what had happened. It was the reason she had rushed here as soon as she had gotten the call herself. "Anna, it's Tony. After the weapons demonstration, the convoy that was taking him back to the base was attacked. They can't find him, he's missing."

The warm feeling that Anna had been feeling just seconds ago had completely vanished. Despite their differences, Anna loved her dad and now he was captured by what? Terrorists? She had never felt so empty and scared in her life. "They're gonna find him right? They're gonna find my dad?"

Pepper watched as tears welled up in the young Starks eyes, refusing to be shed. She wanted to comfort her but she also knew that Anna wouldn't want her to sugar coat it. "They're going to try. Rhodey's working on it right now. Hopefully, he'll be home soon." Anna nodded, unable to speak, and instead reached forward to hug the redheaded woman who gladly returned it.

Anna didn't know what she would do if her dad never came back. She already lost her mom, she didn't know if she could take losing her dad too. She couldn't label what she was feeling with just a single emotion. All she knew was that she felt lost.

* * *

 **So Anna's relationship with her dad isn't the greatest. I kind of think of it as, even though Tony would want to be a better father than his own, he doesn't really have much to go off of, especially since he is a single dad. Despite being a parent, I still wanted him to transition and be a dynamic character because that's one of the best things about him.**

 **Her skates are based off Gogo's from Big Hero 6 also. I figured I'd let everyone know that way they could picture it a little better.**

 **Also I even though the Civil War conflict is still very far away in this story, I want you guys to pay attention to some of their interactions moving forward because they will be brought up again.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all the new readers who have given this story a chance. And also to all thee new followers and favorites.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **-** starkdfrey: **Yeah. Anna and Tony's relationship will be like a rollercoaster through the story. Though they are very similar in some aspects. In others, especially in the future, they will be drastically different which causes conflict.**

* * *

Over the next few months, Anna operated in a haze.

After a full day of mourning her father's disappearance, she took the first flight back to Boston. Jake had met her at the airport to give her a ride back to the dorms. He didn't initiate a conversation when he noticed she was staring out the window in her own little world. The twenty-one year old had never seen the younger girl so quiet.

Back on campus, Anna threw herself into her work, shutting out the world and trying to forget about what had happened. Tony wasn't dead. Her dad wasn't dead. They would find him.

She would repeat that every time she felt that sliver of hopelessness enter her mind. She was a Stark and Starks didn't just throw in the towel when things got tough.

The two weeks following the news of the attack on the convoy, Anna's project had been vastly improved. She had increased the strength of the magnet and made highly aerodynamic disks. Her speeds easily went four times the speed of her test run in the workshop or even faster. Jake had helped her design a suit that would protect her from any damage since she knew that wiping out at over a hundred miles per hour she would get much more than a dislocated shoulder. The suit itself was derived from motorcycle gear that is aimed to help protect the body in crash situations.

When it came time to present her project, Anna did so at the track where she and Jake had practiced. Her presentation received a lot of attention. People were curious as to what the Stark heiress had to offer.

"Hey. You ready for this?" Jake asked as he walked up to Anna who was standing off to the side of the track, waiting to be announced. She was nervously twirling her disks in her hands waiting to be announced.

"I think so. I just—I worked so hard, you know? I don't want to screw it all up. Plus, I'm literally sweating my ass off. Is it just me or is it usually hot today? Maybe it's the suit. I don—," the brunette rambled.

"Anna. Anna, calm down. We've practiced this. It's going to go great," he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulders. "Now, take a deep breath," she did as he said. "You helmet is on the table ready to go when you are."

"Thanks, Jake." She said giving him a nervous smile. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Just then, a graduate student, who was acting as the assistant to the head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, came up to them to let Anna know they were ready for her to begin.

The two friends pulled back from their hug and smiled at each other. "Knock 'em dead," Jake said before going into the bleachers and taking his seat.

Anna walked out to the table which was centered in front of the audience that had come to see her presentation. The young Stark knew that her project was sure to garner a lot of attention just because of her name but she was still a little shocked at some of the faces present in the audience. Pepper had of course flown out to see it, as well as Rhodey, before he went back to searching for her dad, and also Obadiah, who was there to support a third generation of genius Starks.

However, there was a large military presence. She should have expected it since Stark Industries made weapons for the government. News cameras were also present, making the seventeen year old feel even more pressured. As she looked over the audience, she noticed a man. He was just a normal man who was probably a few years older than her dad with thinning hair. She wasn't sure why he caught her eye but when he noticed her look his way, he gave her a reassuring smile which helped ease her nerves ever so slightly.

Reaching the table, she picked up the microphone. "H-Hello," she started testing it out, hating how her nervousness was apparent in her voice. "Hello. My name is Annabel Stark. Some of you today, may not find my project very original. But, what is original these days, right? Most everything is derivative. Even if I were to follow in my father's MIT footsteps and work with AIs, it wouldn't be anything new since he would have already done it. So I decided go with something new in regards to a new application to an already existing invention. You may be asking yourselves, why are we out on this track instead of an auditorium? Well, that is because my project that I am here to present is going to make an exponential leap in the field of transportation.

"In late 2003, the first maglev train made its debut. Maglev meaning magnetic levitation. Now, five years later, I am going to make the application of electromagnetic suspension a little more… personal." Turning the microphone off, she set it back on the table and picked up her, now, modified motorcycle helmet. Now, if she spoke with the helmet on, it would act as a microphone so the audience could hear her. Securing the helmet on her head she checked all her protective gear one last time. Her nerves started to kick up again so she took a deep breath to try and calm herself like Jake had her do earlier. Turning on her wrist monitor, which displayed her speed and allowed her to remotely activate her eddy-current brakes, and her metal boots, she was ready to go.

Balancing herself on the table briefly, she hung the disks in their suspension. The audience murmured amongst themselves at the first display of her project. She stood up ready to go and caught Jake's eye. He gave her a discrete thumbs up, which she was more obvious in returning.

She pushed off the table, circling it as she continued speaking, "Electromagnetic suspension has never been implemented on this level before. Right now, I'm going the average speed of someone on ordinary roller blades. However, with this technology, my skates are not only friction-resistant but friction _less_. Absolute zero resistance until I decide otherwise." She circled the table one last time before taking off.

She could hear the gasps of the audience as she got faster and faster. She went to her top speed of a hundred and twenty miles per hour before deciding that her point was made. For something as important as this presentation, she wasn't going to risk it all by pushing the envelope and going to speeds she hadn't practiced. Plus, it was dangerous. "Eddy-current brakes are imbedded in the boots which utilizes electromagnetism not only to make me go faster but also to slow me down."

With a couple taps on her wrist monitor, she activated the eddy-current brakes. Anna slowed down just in time to land perfectly next to the table. Reducing the magnetic force, the young Stark pulled the disks away from the metal boots and set them on the table before lifting her helmet off of her head and tucking it under her arm. She shot a bright smile out at the audience, glad that her presentation went off without a hitch. Picking up the microphone from the table, she turned it back on and asked, "Any questions?"

* * *

A few weeks later, about a month after the incident in Afghanistan, it was time for her graduation. Anna should have been excited but she wasn't. Tony was supposed to be giving the commencement speech this year, but instead he was God knows where probably being tortured or worse. Anna had a bad habit of thinking depressing thoughts at the worst times. It was borderline self-destructive but she couldn't help it.

Jake wasn't even there to make it better. With Hall as his last name, he was on the other side of the alphabet. Pepper would of course be there, but Obadiah and Rhodey didn't make it this time. The former was busy running Stark Industries in her father's involuntary absence. However, the latter had been adamant about coming originally but Anna shot him down saying that his presence for her presentation was what she had found more important and that he should focus on finding her dad.

To make matters worse, the person who was giving the commencement speech was Hammer Industries own, Justin Hammer. Hammer Industries was Stark Industries biggest competitor. They had been trying to swipe the Stark's government contract for as long as Anna could remember. Watching Justin Hammer stand where her dad should have been was like a slap in the face for the brunette.

Eventually, it came time for the graduates to walk up and accept their diplomas. Anna didn't pay much attention until they got to the H's.

"Jacob Hall," the dean read. Anna let out a loud whoop causing the older boy to look out at her and stick his tongue out. His immaturity made her laugh, which in turn made her feel better about today's events. Jake always seemed to make her feel better.

After what must have been the longest wait of her life, Anna's name was finally called. "Annabel Stark." She walked up to the podium and accepted her diploma, shaking the dean's hand before continuing off the stage. Jake let out a similar whoop of excitement which she returned the same way he had. She searched the large crowd for Pepper on her way back to her seat and by some miracle she succeeded. The woman smiled brightly down at her before whipping away a stray tear that had been running own her cheek. Anna smiled back at her, feeling her own tears beginning to well up, before taking her seat. For the rest of the ceremony, Anna was spaced out, waiting to be reunited with Jake and Pepper.

The ceremony wrapped up with the graduating class throwing their caps into the air in celebration. A blonde girl with glasses two rows in front of Anna, returned her cap to her before going off to find her own. The young girl waited patiently for the mass exodus of students to clear before exiting the building. Her phone started to ring and she saw Jake's caller ID picture pop up.

"Hey, where are you? I ran into Pepper and were waiting by the fountain for you and my family. They want pictures," he grumbled at the end. Anna chuckled at his embarrassed tone. Jake's parents had met Anna on a few occasions and they adored her. Apparently, Jake's mom asked him if we were dating yet every time she saw him to which he responded that they were just friends. Pepper did the same thing to Anna though too.

"Alright, cool. I just got out so I'll be there in a sec." Making her way through the crowd of happy graduates, Anna spotted Pepper's strawberry-blonde locks and then Jake's tall frame next to her. They were happily chatting away as the young Stark approached them.

"Anna! Congratulations, sweetie! I'm so proud of you!" the older woman exclaimed, reaching out to hug the Stark heiress.

"Thanks Pep," Anna said, hugging her back tightly. She pulled back and went to hug her best friend. The two exchanged congratulations before the younger girl asked, "Where're your parents and brother?"

He sighed dramatically, "Slacking as usual. I mean you found us so easily! There's only one fountain—." Just as he was finishing his thought, a beautiful, brunette, woman and a handsome, blond man walked up to them with a bored-looking teenager following behind them. "There they are!" he announced, forgetting his rant.

"Congratulations, son," his dad said shaking Jake's hand before his mother pulled him into a hug. Adam, Jake's fourteen year old brother, stayed quiet during the exchange until Jake grabbed his shoulder pulling him into a side hug.

"What? No congrats from you?" Jake joked, shaking his little brother teasingly. A smile started to appear on Adam's previously bored face.

It then disappeared as he put on a serious face and replied, "No," causing a slight staring contest before the two broke into laughter. Anna liked watching Jake interact with his family. It was nice to see how a normal family functions compared to her own.

Jake's father, Andrew, then looked over to Pepper and asked, "We still on for dinner tonight before heading home tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Pepper answered enthusiastically. "And you are all still riding home with us tomorrow, correct?"

The Halls lived I Albuquerque, New Mexico so Pepper had offered to fly them home on the Stark jet so they didn't have to pay for the flight home. Malibu was in the same general direction anyway. Jocelyn, Jake's mother, answered back, equally as enthusiastic as Pepper, "Oh, yes! Thank you so much again for the offer. We really appreciate it."

"No problem," Pepper responded waving her had as if it was nothing.

"Alright, so why don't we meet at the restaurant tonight after we finish unloading everything from our dorms? Sound good?" Anna suggested.

"Sounds good," Mr. and Mrs. Hall replied at the same time.

It was then that the two families departed, heading in their own respective directions, looking forward to their plans for the evening. Anna was going to enjoy the last hours she would in Boston, because then she would be back in Malibu, in an empty mansion, all by herself.

* * *

By August, Anna was ready to lose her damn mind. From the time of her graduation, she had been approached by the government in order to broker a deal in developing the electromagnetic technology she presented for military uses. The teenager wasn't well versed in business negotiations or the politics that come with being involved in the military so she didn't really know how to go about furthering her research in the future.

She was honestly nervous about the whole ordeal. Her skates were created in her own time, with her own resources. They weren't created using university equipment or in the labs of Stark Industries. They were wholly hers and now she didn't know what to do with them.

Obadiah had expressed his opinion, saying that she should sign the rights over to Stark Industries. That way the company could make the decisions about what to do with the skates and how they should be produced and distributed. She would just be involved in development at that point; no business talk.

But something about that didn't feel right to Anna. She had slaved over the design and invention of these powerful skates for months. They were her babies. She couldn't just hand them over.

On top of that, the military was slowing their search for her dad. When Rhodey had told her, she freaked out on him. Later on, she felt bad knowing it wasn't his fault. He was trying to keep the search going just as much as she was but after three months, the odds were looking slim of them finding him.

To try and get her mind off such dismal thoughts, Pepper had arranged for Jake to come out and visit. Anna had seemed to brighten up a bit when he was around. Plus, he helped get her out of the empty mansion. Even though Pepper had moved in, Anna volunteering to pay her rent if she stayed with her, the Stark household was lacking in presence. Maybe it was the absence of Tony's ego that made it so empty.

Jake had even invited her out to Albuquerque to get her out of Malibu altogether. Again, like his visit, it had worked in cheering her up… for the time being anyway. As soon as she walked through the front door of her home again, the waves of sadness hit her.

But then came August 20th.

It was around noon and she had been watching the news and eating take out, again. She wasn't much of a cook. Suddenly, her phone rang. It startled her since the only other sound in the whole house was the faint sounds of the voice on the television.

She looked down at her phone, expecting it to be Pepper who had to run to her apartment for something earlier, but instead it was Rhodey.

"Hello," she answered in a muffled tone, still chewing her lo mein. At this point, she didn't care. Rhodey would think no less of her.

"Anna!" he answered his voice more upbeat than the young Stark had been expecting.

She swallowed her food and sat up a little straighter, "Uh, yeah? What's up?"

As much as she had tried to keep a positive attitude about her dad's search, a part of her had never thought she'd ever hear Rhodey's nest words.

"We found him, Anna. We found Tony."

* * *

Anna and Pepper stood outside the plane that had just landed waiting for the ramp to open. The younger girl was incredibly anxious to see her dad again. The last time they had spoken, it had not gone very well and she was just glad what she said wasn't going to be her last words to him.

The ramp lowered and there stood Rhodey next to Tony who was sitting in a wheelchair. The military man carefully helped his best friend stand up and walk down the ramp, mindful of his arm which was wrapped in a sling.

Anna watched as her dad shooed away the gurney that had been pulled over and walked up to her. "Your eyes are red. Did you miss me, kiddo?"

The brunette smiled widely, "Yeah, actually. I did." She launched herself into his arms, causing him to wince slightly when she hit his injured one. She muttered an apology but continued to hug him, glad that she had her dad back.

Tony hugged back tightly. There were moments in his captivity where he didn't know if he was going to make it out. But, as he and Yinsen had discussed, he had someone waiting for him. He kissed his daughter on the top of her head before the two pulled away from each other. He then looked over at his redheaded assistant, "Your eyes are red too. A few tears for your long lost boss?"

Pepper smiled back. "Tears of joy. I hate job hunting," she joked. She was glad to have Tony back and she was glad that Anna finally got to see her father.

"I'm sure Anna would've kept you employed. Well, anyway, vacation's over," he said walking towards the town car with Happy waiting inside. The three got inside; Pepper up front in the passenger's seat and Anna and her father in the back.

"Take us to the hospital please, Hap—," Pepper started before Tony cut her off.

"No."

"No?" Anna asked looking confused. "Dad you have to go to the hospital." But her father was too busy talking over her.

"No. I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do," everyone in the car looked at him, waiting to hear what her had to say, "I want an American cheeseburger, and the other…"

"That's enough of that," Pepper cut him off, making Anna roll her eyes.

"It's not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference, now." Now Anna was really confused. While her father loved the limelight, he didn't care much for press conferences.

Apparently, Pepper must have been just as confused as the younger girl when she repeated what her boss said in a questioning tone.

"Yep," Tony answered finally, "Hogan drive. Cheeseburger first."

It wasn't long before the car pulled up to a Burger King. Happy ordered for us, since whenever food is brought up, I tend to get hungry. My dad and I sat in the back, eating our burgers while Pepper chatted away in the front organizing the press conference that Tony had ordered.

Swallowing his bite, Tony turned to his daughter. "I'm sorry," he said.

Anna looked at her dad wide eyed. She had never heard him apologize before. "For what? For being gone? You don't have to apologize for that. You were captured by terrorists, dad!"

"No, no. Not for that. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you came home for the weekend. I'm sorry I kept blowing off MIT, I know how much that meant to you. I'm sorry I haven't been a good dad." Anna had never seen her dad this vulnerable. Yes, he was only saying he was sorry but that was more than he had ever done in the past. His sarcastic, narcissistic side was still there but there was also a maturity that was present that hadn't been before. He knew what was important above all else in his life, and that was his daughter.

"It's okay. I forgive you. I'm just glad your home." The two exchanged a smile. A big display of affection, like a hug, was not needed, being with each other was enough.

Just as they pulled up to the press conference, Anna and Tony finished their burgers, though the older Stark still had another in the bag. Obadiah was waiting and opened the door for Anna's father once the car came to a stop. The two men shook hands before Tony turned to Happy who handed him his other cheeseburger. Walking into the press conference with Obadiah, the older Stark finished the burger, Anna and Pepper following behind them.

The two men and Anna, due to Tony's request, walked closer to the podium, the younger girl not noticing the familiar man approach Pepper to talk about her father's escape.

Anna's father sat in front of the podium while Obadiah gathered everyone's attention. The younger of the two men caught his daughter's attention signaling her to sit too. The young brunette sat on the edge of the stage a few feet from her father, wondering why they were sitting down when her father began to speak.

"Hey! Would it be alright if everyone just sat down? Why don't you just sit down? That way I can see you and you can see me. It's a little less formal." All the reporters present followed his request. He spoke quietly with Obadiah before announcing, "I never got to say goodbye to my dad. There were questions I would've asked him. I would've asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted. If he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man that we all remember from the news reels." He paused, looking out over his audience and then over to his teenage daughter who was waiting for him to continue. It was like a continuation of their talk in the car. She had never seen him so vulnerable.

He looked back out at the audience, "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

A few hands raised in the audience an Anna watched as her father pointed to one man. "What happened over there?" the reporter asked simply. It was the question that everyone had been dying to know, even Anna since she hadn't spoken to her father about it yet.

"Uh, I-I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I had more to offer this world then just making things that blow up. That is why—effective immediately—I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing—,"Anna couldn't even hear the rest of what her father had to say because the whole group of reporter erupted into chaos, desperate to ask questions and get insight as to why Tony Stark would shut down the biggest branch of Stark Industries.

Obadiah ushered him off of the stage and Anna followed her dad. They stopped in a secluded area away from the press conference. Anna turned to her dad, shock from his announcement still apparent on her features. "What was that?" she asked, unsure how else to phrase it.

"That was me taking responsibility for not only my own actions but the actions of my company. If you had seen what I did, and had been in my position, you would've done the same thing."

Anna sighed and ran a hand through her hair in an exasperated fashion. "Fine. I believe you. I trust you. You're different. Even in the short time you've been back, I can tell you're different. Don't ever doubt I won't stand by you, because I will."

Tony smiled at his daughter, proud to be her father. "Alright. Well I'm gonna get out of here and head to the arch reactor. Tell Obi to meet me there when he's done. After that, if I were you, I'd find Pepper and go home. Wouldn't want to be hounded by the paparazzi, right?"

* * *

 **Hope you all enjoyed. I have now seen Civil War a total of four times because I'm Marvel/Captain America trash. But all those times were with different people and I only paid twice! Haha**

 **Also, because of the heartbreak that is sure to occur later in the story, pay attention to Tony and Anna's interactions because a lot of them will come back to light.**

 **Again thank you! And I'll try to update again within the week!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry I've been gone for so long, but I'm back and can hopefully update a little more often. I make no promises when though, because that rarely works out. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Anna waited in the workshop for her father to return from his conversation with Obadiah. After the catastrophe that Tony liked to call a press conference, Anna was questioning a lot about her father and what had happened while he was gone. She trusted him in his decision to shut down the weapons manufacturing division, despite it being the main purpose of Stark Industries, but now she wanted to know what his next step was.

She tinkered on some random circuit boards that were laying in a scrap pile on the end of one of the desks as she waited patiently, ACDC blaring through the speakers as she worked. Finally, after who knows how long, Tony walked into the workshop.

Anna looked at him expectantly and he didn't even look back at her. Rolling her eyes, she called out to him, "Well?"

"Well, what?" he answered back, trying to look innocent and oblivious to the unspoken question hanging in the air.

"What happened? What happened at the weapons demonstration? What happened when you disappeared? What happened with your conversation with Obadiah? Just, what happened?! You've been back here for a few hours' tops and we haven't really spoken yet. I was so worried about you!"

Tony made his way over to his daughter and sat on a wheeled chair across from her. "We had just finished the weapons demonstration for the Jericho missile and loaded back into the Humvees to head back to base when we were attacked. During the attack, I was hit with some bomb shrapnel and it almost reached my heart, but I'll get more into that later," he said as he noticed the horrified look on his daughter's face. "I woke up in a cave with a man named Yinsen, who helped save my life when I was brought back from the attack. The people who took me wanted me to build them their own Jericho and they had other Stark weapons as well. Over the next few months, Yinsen and I devised a plan to escape and that is why I'm here now."

Anna's horrified look quickly changed to one of confusion as well as having a hint of annoyance thrown in. "That isn't the whole story. You can't lie to me; I know all of your tells because I have the same ones. If you can't trust me, then who can you trust, dad." She didn't call him 'dad' very often, or at least not lately up until his disappearance. She had usually just called him Tony like everyone else. A small gesture such as calling him 'dad' reminded him that she was right. She was his daughter. His family. He was home, not in some cave in Afghanistan being held by terrorists and being forced to build a missile.

His daughter was also like no other. She was brilliant and strong-willed; a genuinely good person all around. She must have gotten that from her mother.

Anna stared at him as he stayed quiet, thinking everything over. She sighed before speaking again softly, "How are you not dead right now?"

Tony did not hesitate in his answer, knowing that he should tell her everything, "When they took me to the cave, the shrapnel was almost to my heart. Yinsen, the other man who was being held there, managed to create a magnet charged by a car battery to keep the shrapnel from going any deeper. After I had woken up, the two of us worked together to build something better." Tony paused there, pulling up his shirt to show his daughter what he managed to build while captured.

"Is that an arc reactor?!" she exclaimed in awe of the miniature version of the large arc reactor from back at Stark labs. Tony simply looked at her, not answering, knowing that she knew exactly what is was. "That's amazing! But, how did you manage to make one so small? No—Wait don't answer that just yet. I have one more question I want you to answer first. How did you escape?"

Tony looked at her and smirked. "That gets into what I need your help with. I'll explain as we go, I promise but first," he tapped the reactor that glowed under his shirt, "I need you to help me upgrade this. You are good with magnets, aren't you?"

Anna gave her father a curious look before matching his smirk with her own, "What can I do to help?"

* * *

"I'm going to need your expertise."

"Alright," Jake replied from the other end of the line with a chuckle, "Keep talking. I like where this is going."

Anna smiled and rolled her eyes, even though her friend couldn't see it, "What I'm about to say is some very sensitive information and I'm trusting you as my best friend to keep it to yourself, alright?"

"Oookay, this sounds important and even a little dangerous now. If it's dangerous, I may have to charge you for my services."

"Oh please, you live for danger. Or at least, that's what you told that blonde girl on spring break in Ibiza last year. Unless you are truly just chicken shit and lied, just like how you lied about everything else you told her."

"I didn't say I lived for danger, I said danger was my middle name. And I did not lie to her," Jake tried to defend, but his voice got slightly higher telling Anna that he was indeed lying.

"Liar. You just said that you told her danger was your middle name, which it isn't, is it Jacob _Albert_ Hall? What else did you tell her again? That you were an up-and-coming DJ that was checking out the international scene after hitting it big in the States."

"Alright, Annabel _Marie_ Stark, I may have said that but I mean, even though you seem to have a knack for knowing when people are lying, I am obviously a pretty good liar because she believed me."

"She only believed you because she was wasted! If I'm remembering correctly, he boyfriend also thought that you were a liar," she said as she thought about the muscled guy who socked Jake right in the jaw when he caught him coming on to his girlfriend.

"No, her boyfriend just thought I was an ass for hitting on his girlfriend."

"And he was right."

"Can we get back to the issue at hand? You had some super-secret, classified info to tell me?" Jake started again, changing the subject.

"Fine. So my dad was telling me about how he was captured and about how this terrorist group, called the Ten Rings, which I discovered through my research on the subject, had Stark weapons in their arsenal. I want to know how exactly they got our weapons. The more I think about what my dad told me the more suspicious I get about the whole thing. The Ten Rings wanted my dad to build them a Jericho missile, and they just so happen to capture him the day he demonstrates it to the military. It was the first demonstration and only a handful of people knew that he was going who are also connected to the company. I smell a rat, and I want to know who it is."

"Well," Jake dragged out, thinking all the information over, "If you really think that someone is supplying the Ten Rings with Stark Industries weapons, then I would look into the board. The executives on the board are probably the only ones that knew of the weapons demonstration was taking place exactly on that date at that time, and they're the only ones that could even possibly arrange a shipment to the Ten Rings under the table." Anna listened to Jake's logic and found herself agreeing more and more. "And even though he's supposed to be your dad's mentor and partner, I wouldn't dismiss Obadiah as a possibility. You've always thought the guy was kind of… well, off."

"You're right," Anna agreed immediately, "Everyone is a position of power could be behind this even Obi, which is why I want you to hack Stark Industries servers."

"What?! You want me to hack your family's own company?"

"Yes, I can access the servers from the inside and then lower security enough for you to get in from the outside and take a look around the board and Obadiah's files. I would do it myself, but if anything happens, I don't want them to know I'm on to them. You're far enough removed from the situation that it may take them some time to connect the dots. I mean, if anything happens, we can just say that my dad and I wanted you to test the security and see if any hackers could get into the system." Anna paused, knowing that it was a lot to ask. "Listen, you don't have to do it. It's a lot to ask and definitely not a fool-proof pla—," Jake cut her off.

"I'll do it. I live for danger after all," he replied in a joking tone. "I'll update you on what I find when I get into town in a couple of weeks for the benefit."

"Sounds good. Text me your arrival time, and I'll make sure to get there in time to pick you up."

"Alright, I'll see ya." Anna was just about to hang up when Jake continued, "And be safe Anna."

"You too."

Anna sighed, trying to shake off the solemn tone of the conversation she just had with her best friend. Deciding to take a break from playing Nancy Drew, she left her room and headed for the kitchen to grab a can of Pepsi before making her way to the workshop.

Halfway down the stairs, she ran into Pepper. "Oh, hey Pep! What's wrong with your hand?" she asked, noticing how the woman held her hand away from her body.

"Hello, Anna. Oh, nothing. I just need to wash it. Your father had me help him change out his reactor with a new one. I'm never doing it again," Pepper replied seriously, with a slight nervous laugh at the end. "Next time he needs help with that kind of stuff, he can ask you," she finished before continuing up the stairs.

Anna laughed to herself. She wasn't surprised her father took it upon himself to scar Pepper, when she was too busy doing other things.

She entered the workshop to see Tony ordering Dum-E around, getting the robotic arm to clean up his work benches. The seventeen-year-old couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. If he would just do it himself, it would get done ten times faster than him ordering Dum-E around to do it.

"So, I heard you scarred Pepper for life," Anna started without greeting.

"Hey, if anyone was scarred, it was me. I went into cardiac arrest!" he defended.

"Why didn't you just ask me to help you? I helped you update the reactor; I could've helped put it in. At least then, there would've been a smaller chance of it getting messed up. No offense to Pepper, but this science and engineering stuff isn't really her thing."

"You were busy," he answered simply, not looking at her.

"I call bullshit. Me being busy has never stopped you from having me help you on new weapons blueprints, or hand you a wrench while you're under the cars, or getting you whatever from the kitchen." She paused for a second, gauging his reaction, which remained innocent. "No, you just wanted an opportunity to flirt with Pepper."

"I was not _flirting_ with Pepper," he said unconvincingly.

Anna huffed a small laugh, "I've said it once and I'll say it again, I'm your daughter and you raised me, which means when I lie, my tells are the same as yours. I'm also not blind, so there's no need to deny. I just hope that mild heart attack was worth it." She shot her father a coy smile and he rolled his eyes.

Changing the subject, he called her over to his work bench, "Well, since you're down here now, I want to run something by you."

Anna raised an eyebrow at Tony, "Go on…"

"I think it's time I filled you in on the details of my escape."

* * *

"JARVIS, are you up?" Tony asked sitting down at his desk, Anna only a couple of feet away in her own swivel chair.

"For you, sir, always," the A.I. responded.

"I'd like to open up a new project file, index as Mark 2."

The last time Anna had been in the workshop with her father, he had told her all about the circumstances in which he escaped his captors in Afghanistan. With the help of Yinsen and the miniaturized arc reactor, the two were able to create a suit of armor that protected him from the rain of gunfire and fight back against the Ten Rings. It even was able to take flight for a short while apparently.

Anna wasn't sure how much of it she believed right away but then as she thought about it, what reason did her dad have to lie?

The Mark 1 had not survived her father's crash landing in the desert before being found by Rhodey and the Air Force. But now, her father wanted to perfect the idea and create the Mark 2. Much like with the Mark 1, he was not going to turn down a helping hand, but instead he recruited his helper this time. Tony could not think of a brighter mind to help him in his endeavors of building a new and improved suit than his daughter. Obviously she was the best, she did have his genes.

First, they had started with the new blue prints. The design of the Mark 1 was bulky and unpractical, though it served its purpose at the time. The Mark 2 would be much more functional. Tony was stuck on the idea of flying so the father/daughter duo decided to begin at that.

The two worked on the boots first with the help of Dum-E, who Tony didn't think was very helpful at all. The teenager never understood why her father was so hard on the robot all of the time. Dum-E was one of his first big steps in to artificial intelligence technology. With a success like Dum-E, most would treat the robot like their own son, but Tony was never one to be so sentimental.

With one boot for each of them, they got to work. They created the joints so that the boot would continue to have full mobility, the mechanisms that would allow the front and back of the boot to unlatch so that Tony could get in and out of it, and lastly, the repulsors that would help enable her father to fly.

Once the boots were finished and ready for a test run, Anna helped her father hook them up to the arc reactor in his chest for power. They set up the workshop for the flight test, equipping Dum-E with a fire extinguisher and U with the camera. Anna leaned against U, watching the test live and also manning the camera to make sure it was getting everything that was going on.

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark half a meter back to center," he sighed before looking back at the one robot. "Dum-E, look alive and stand by for fire safety. U, roll it." He paused, adjusting his stance. "Activate hand controls. We're gonna start out nice and easy with 10 percent thrust capacity to achieve lift. In three, two, one…"

Anna watched, seemingly uninterested though she was anything but. She waited patiently to see the fruits of their labor and for the boots to really help her father fly. Unfortunately, more work was to be done. Tony suddenly shot up from his position and smacked against the angled ceiling before dropping back to the ground haphazardly. Anna jumped in surprise and rushed forward just as Dum-E doused him with foam from the fire extinguisher.

"Oh my god! Dad, are you okay?" She said dropping to her knees at his side, checking him over for any injuries he may have gotten. Dazed but physically alright, Tony sat up, waving his worried daughter off.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I think the thrust capacity was too high."

Anna scoffed out a laugh, "Ya think?" She got to her feet before leaning down to help pull her father up with her. "Why don't you go clean the foam off of you and then we'll fix it and try again."

Tony nodded, still a little stunned from the smack against the concrete ceiling, but shuffled away to take the boots off and clean himself up.

* * *

A few days later, or well nights, Anna came back down into the workshop to hand her father the coffee she had made the two of them. They had been working diligently on the Mark 2 suit with very little sleep and little progress had been made. The only thing they managed to discover in the meantime was how many times Tony could continue to slam into the ceiling and not seriously injure himself.

She stood behind Tony and he sat at the computer, looking over the blueprints, and saw more detailed blueprints for the gauntlets. "Flight stabilizers?" she guessed was his reasoning behind why they were moving onto the gauntlets before fully finishing and testing the boots.

"You got it."

The duo quickly got to work building the gauntlets and fitting them to Tony's arms. Anna was helping her father attach the right one to his arm for a test when Pepper came down the stairs.

"I've been buzzing you. You didn't hear the intercom?" she started. Anna honestly didn't know what she was talking about. The teen didn't hear the intercom at all. It must have been because she was in the zone. She may as well have been dead to the world when she worked. Apparently, her father was the same, as he didn't have a clue to what Pepper was referring to at all. "Obadiah's upstairs."

Anna rolled her eyes as her father responded, not really paying attention, "Great. I'll be right up."

"I thought you said you were done making weapons?" she asked curiously, wondering what exactly the father and daughter had been doing for the last week or so.

"It isn't; this is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless," Anna went to warn her father about the levels the flight stabilizer was set at but it was too late and he turned it on. A large beam shot out of the palm of the half-finished gauntlet, destroying a quarters of the workshop as it ripped through equipment.

Pepper covered her head and shrunk back away from the blast, as did Anna. Tony had flown back in the opposite direction due to the recoil. "I wasn't expecting that," was all he had to say as he laid in a heap on the floor.

Anna looked towards the now destroyed area of the workshop, noticing that her father had just barely managed to avoid hitting her work station. "You know, next time we test these repulsors, were aiming it at your side of the workshop," she said, shooting her father a dirty look as he got to his feet.

She went to follow Pepper up the stairs, when the older woman looked to her and quietly said, "It's times like those when I can really see the resemblance between you and Tony."

"When is that? When he's destroying the workshop?" Anna asked with a laugh.

Pepper returned it with a slight chuckle. "No, when you two are working together. You're both so focused and hardworking." She gave the brunette a genuine smile. "You are your father's daughter."

Anna stopped when they reached the top of the stairs, "Some may not always think that's a good thing." Her father had been dubbed many things, some not at flattering as others. He had been called a genius, a billionaire, a playboy, and a philanthropist along with much more. While Anna wouldn't mind being seen as a genius or philanthropist, and being a billionaire was just a fact, there was no doubting her father's womanizing and reckless ways.

"True," Pepper continued, the smile remaining in place, "You may be more mature than your father in some ways, though you still have your spouts of teenage rebellion and recklessness. But, you are brilliant and beautiful, stubborn and strong, loyal and compassionate. While I didn't know your mother, and you may have very well gotten those traits from her, I can see them in Tony too and that is why you are your father's daughter. That is why I'm glad you two are spending this time together, building… whatever it is your building. Your relationship had been strained for a long time before Tony was captured, and I'm glad you're rebuilding it and seeing your dad for who he really is and that he's seeing who you really are too."

Anna had not been expecting such sentiment from Pepper. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, but like Pepper said, she was too stubborn to let them fall. Instead, she threw her arms around the woman tightly. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Anna heard her father start coming up the stairs.

The younger girl pulled away and started to head to the other staircase that led to the bedrooms. "I'm going to go finish getting ready for when Jake visits," she called over her shoulder to the redheaded woman. Right before she took the first step upstairs, she turned back around, "Andthanks Pepper."

* * *

Anna stood in the same spot she had just a week before, leaning against U as her father prepared himself for another flight test with the newly finished flight stabilizers.

"Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0," Tony said for the camera, beginning the test. "For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety." Anna rolled her eyes. Sometimes it was like he forgot that she was there and could do more than man the camera. But, whatever, Anna thought. If he wanted to trust Dum-E over her, then so be it.

Dum-E raised its arm to point towards Tony, who continued to scold the robot, "If you douse me again, and I'm _not_ on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." The robot hung its arm/head down, as if it was sad, causing Anna to crack a smile. Sometimes she wondered if her father had learned how to program emotions into them. "Alright, nice and easy. Seriously. I'm just gonna start out with one percent thrust capacity."

Anna watched as Tony lifted off of the ground a couple feet, slightly unsteady before touching back down. No smacking into the ceiling this time. Just as he touched back down onto the ground he looked back towards Dum-E who raised the extinguisher towards him. "Please don't follow me around with it either, because I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire, spontaneously. Just stand down. If something happens, then come out." He adjusted his stance before calling out, "Again. Let's bring it up to 2.5."

Tony rose a little higher off the ground this time, close to three feet. After a few seconds, he started to veer out of the test zone. As he tried to correct himself, he only made it worse, getting closer and closer to his cars. Anna pushed off of U and started towards her dad, trying to help him get back to the test floor without any car casualties, but didn't quite know what to do.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be," Tony narrated as he drifted over the expensive Audis and hot rods.

"Do you want help?" Anna called out, thinking that if she could get him to grab onto something, that she could pull him back to where it was safe to touch down. Somewhere away from the luxury automobiles.

"No, no, I got this." Just as the words came out of his mouth, he drifted over the last car and over a desk causing the papers to go flying everywhere. The brunette teen held her arms out in front of her, blocking the swarm of loose paper from hitting her in the face. Tony put his flight stabilizers out in front of him to push him back, which worked well. He let out an uneasy laugh as Anna just stood there with her hands out cautiously, not sure how to help him if he fell. It wasn't like she could catch him without being crushed herself. "Could be worse. Could be worse. Could be worse. We're gonna be fine." Back at the test pad, he cut power and landed back on the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony could see Dum-E's arm raise with the fire extinguisher. "Nah, ah, ah, ah, ah," he yelled, holding his own arm out and telling Dum-E to stop before the robot drooped down again.

Anna smiled brightly, glad to see their hard work paying off. She ran up to her dad and grabbed his shoulders, "Congrats dad! You can fly!"

He smiled back at her, patting her on the back lightly since he still had the gauntlets on. "Yeah, I can fly." He stepped away and motioned for her to follow, "Come on, I'm taking this bad boy out for a real test flight."

Anna quirked an eyebrow at the older Stark, "Are you sure that's a good idea so soon? I mean this is the first successful test run we've had. To actually go out there…" she trailed off, hoping that her father would see the risk without her having to completely explain herself.

"It will be fine," he reassured her. "Besides, you'll stay here and monitor the suit from the workshop. With you and JARVIS helping me, it should work out perfectly."

Anna was still uneasy about the idea, but she knew how much her dad wanted to get out and really fly the suit they had been working on for weeks. Plus, she knew whether she gave the okay or not that Tony was going to go anyway, so she might as well be there to help him. Sometimes, it felt like she was the parent and he was the kid.

"Alright, let's do this."

* * *

 **Let me know what you think and review! I love hearing what you have to say. Feel free to ask any questions too, whether they're about the story or Anna (like what's her favorite color or Disney Princess... *cough*blue and Belle*cough*).**

 **I know it was a little bit of a filler chapter but it showed you some relationships like Anna and Pepper, Jake and Anna as well as Tony and Anna. And even what Pepper really thinks of Tony with that parallel of her seeing the good in him through Anna, while he thinks all the good from Anna came from her mom, Sofia.**

 **Again, so sorry it took so long to update, hope to do so again soon.**


	5. Chapter 4

Tony had the rest of his armor plating put on as he prepared for a test flight. JARVIS synced into the flight system that the suit had, connecting the older Stark to the rest of the house. Anna sat in front of several computer screens at one of the desks close to the test floor in the workshop. She had on a headset that allowed her to see whatever her father was seeing in the suit and allowed her to speak to her father through the same system he was using to connect to JARVIS. Once JARVIS was uploaded to the suit and the rest of his surroundings were virtually calibrated, Tony was ready to go.

JARVIS prepared for a diagnostics run but Tony cut him off, insisting to prepare for a test flight. "JARVIS, sometimes you got to run before you can walk," Tony stated. Anna squinted her eyes in thought at the comment. It made no sense. She knew her dad was anxious to test the suit out though and nothing was going to keep him from doing it in this moment so all the teenager could do was cross her fingers and hope for the best.

Tony counted back from three before taking off up the driveway and out of the workshop. She could hear her father's excited yells as he raced through the tunnel before finally making it in the air. Seeing everything that he could, it was quite incredible to see their labor pay off.

He spun around for a little before gaining his bearings. He flew around the city, finding the boardwalk, where the optics on the suit were so enhanced that he could zoom in to see a little boy eating ice cream with his sister on the Ferris wheel.

Tony continued to fly around before deciding to test out how high into the atmosphere the suit was able to handle. As he rose higher and higher, Anna snapped out of her awe at the suit's capabilities to notice that there were ice crystals forming along the edges of the screen.

"Uh, dad! I think that's about as high as you should go," she started out gently. Anna should have known that her father would be too enamored with his creation to stop testing its limits though. Tony continued to climb higher and higher into the sky, the ice continuing to build upon the armor plating.

JARVIS then spoke up, agreeing with Anna's previous remark, "Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring." Anna's anxiety started to spike again at the word _fatal_. Even more so when she saw that her father still gave no signs of stopping.

"Dad! Stop! There's too much ice! Come down!" Just as the words left her mouth, the suit became encased in ice and the power shut down, leaving Tony stranded in the air and Anna in the workshop unable to connect with her father. "Dad!" she yelled, trying to get through in the comms.

Free falling without any help from JARVIS or his daughter, Tony frantically tried to figure out how to get rid of the ice surrounding the Mark 2. After a few seconds, which felt like much longer, Tony was able to manually release the flaps, breaking the ice and allowing for the flight system to come back online. Anna's communications were restored and she could see what her father was seeing once again.

"Dad!" Anna shouted from the workshop as she saw the suit getting closer to the ground. Only a few feet away from the surface of the Earth, Tony was able to power up the repulsors to push him back up into flight. Tony yelled in excitement again, while Anna slumped back in her desk chair, the adrenaline and anxiety from her father's most recent near-death experience slowly washing away.

"Aw, Anna were you worried about dear ole dad?" Tony teased from the suit. Anna narrowed her eyes at the screens in front of her, knowing her father couldn't see her.

"Oh, no… I was just freaking out for no reason whatsoever. How about next time you listen to me when I'm trying to save your life?!" she said progressively getting louder until she was almost yelling. "You just better hope that I've calmed down once you get back here, or I just may kill you myself. You almost gave me a heart attack! No seventeen-year-old should have to worry about having a heart attack!" Anna vented.

Tony smiled to himself as his daughter ranted about his actions. It was reckless of him to keep going and he knew that he upset her a little with his choices, but he still found it endearing.

The older Stark looped back around, now making his way back to the mansion. Once he arrived outside on the roof, he lowered the power to try and land more gently. He hovered a foot or so off of the ground before cutting the power. Unfortunately, with how heaving the suit was, even falling from that height was enough to break through several floors of concrete and land on one of his beloved cars.

Anna jumped from her spot at the desk. She had been trying to relax, waiting for his return. After her rant, Anna had discarded the headset on the desk and propped her feet up, thoroughly done with the events from the evening. But when she saw the suit come crashing down from above, she was startled from her relaxed position and got up to wander over to her father. He laid in the suit, unmoving at first, on top of what _was_ the 1967 Shelby Cobra. Anna looked around at all the rubble lying at her feet as she got closer to her dad. The teenager glanced up through the gaping hole that now went through her house before looking back and her dad, who tilted his head up, waiting for his daughter's response to the destruction. Stuffing her hands in the pockets of the jacket she was wearing, she huffed, "I'm not cleaning this up." Turning to walk away, she didn't notice Tony slump back against the debris.

"Aren't you going to help me up?!" he called out to her retreating figure. She stopped at the stairs and looked back in his direction. Anna feigned thinking about it for a moment before replying, "No," and continuing on her way. "This is payback for the heart attack you gave me earlier," she called back to him without turning around

* * *

"Dad!" Anna yelled across the workshop from her seat. For days now, they had been trying to improve the Mark 2 suit. Ever since the test flight where her father almost plummeted to his death, because of the ice buildup when he went to high into the atmosphere and when he fell through the house when he tried to land, the father-daughter duo had been brainstorming ideas for the Mark 3.

"What?" Tony answered, walking up next to her and leaning on the back of her chair. He looked over her shoulder at what she was looking at.

"I think I have a solution to the Mark 2's weight issue. Gold-Titanium alloy. If we make they alloy three parts titanium for every one-part gold, the armor would be three to four times stronger than pure titanium. We should be using this instead of Chromium and Titanium-Steel plating. It's stronger and lighter."

Tony nodded, feeling incredibly proud of his daughter. "Sounds good. Let's get on it. JARVIS did you hear?"

"Yes, sir," the AI answered, "I'm already preparing the materials for you to start."

"Hey, dad, I would help but Jake is going to be landing at the airstrip soon and I told him I would pick him up," Anna spoke up before her father put all his focus on the redesign for the Mark 3. Tony tried not to let any disappointment show. His daughter had her own life going on outside of working on the suit with him. Nevertheless, working together on this project had bonded the two together after their rough patch before he was kidnapped and he liked spending time with his little girl again.

"Oh, alright, have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he told her as she started up the stairs. She paused and looked back at her dad, raising an eyebrow and smirking as if to say 'what wouldn't you do.' Tony amended his comment, "But, also, don't do anything I would do." Now, Anna scrunched up her face in confusion. "There's a gray area in there," the older Stark finished.

"Yeah…" Anna trailed off as she snickered under her breath. "I'm sure there is." She started back up the stairs, sending a wave towards her dad as she disappeared from view.

There was one thing he realized since coming back stateside and that was, in the last few years of him being a semi-absent father, he had no idea how parent a teenager. When Anna was younger, it seemed a little easier. Yes, he was just as busy but she was also more agreeable. Anna looked up to her dad then, he was her hero a role model. But, as she grew older and more aware of the reasons behind him never being there, she distanced herself from him. Being held by the Ten Rings made him realize how much he missed in her life and how he didn't want to repeat the relationship that he had with his own father. He wanted to be better for her.

* * *

Anna sped onto the airstrip in her silver 2008 Maserati GranTurismo. She hadn't driven it much since getting it, with her either being away at school or being a hermit in her own home for the last few months. She loved the feeling of the wind whipping through her hair as she zipped through the California hills to pick up her best friend. She also knew Jake would love to be picked up in it. He was a big car buff and Anna liked to show off a little in this aspect.

She arrived just in time to see Jake gathering his luggage from the attendants as he got off the Stark private jet that Anna had sent for him. "Get in loser, we're going shopping!" she yelled out to him, catching his attention.

"Nice, real nice," he shouted with a sarcastic laugh before heading over to her. "Speaking of nice, holy shit, this car is beautiful!" He tossed his suitcase in the trunk that Anna popped open for him before hopping into the front passenger seat.

"I thought you might appreciate my good taste in motor vehicles." Flipping her sunglasses back down over her eyes from their previous position on top of her head, she started the car back up and took off back the way she came.

"You gotta let me drive it?"

"No chance! I saw what you did to your car! I'm not letting you kill my baby." Jake grumbled and shook his head at her answer. Anna laughed it off and drove away from the airstrip.

The two decide to go grab some lunch and hang out on the beach before heading home to the Stark Mansion where they would get ready for the benefit that night.

They walked down the beach, each had their shoes in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other. It felt nice to get out of the mansion for a while and sink her toes in the sand. For someone who lived in Malibu, she really didn't get to the beach very often.

"So," Jake started.

"So…" Anna repeated teasingly, causing Jake to shoot her a playful glare.

"I tried to hack into some of the board's files, see if there was anything fishy going on."

"And?" the young Stark interrupted, desperate to figure out what was going on with her family's company.

"Completely clean. All of them. Well, at least when it comes to double-dealing under the table. You may want to keep an eye on Palmer though. I don't want to call him a sexual deviant, but there were a lot of pictures from his user file that I will never be able to forget." Anna started to laugh at her best friend's facial expression. The disgust was _very_ evident. "It's not funny! I'm officially scarred for life after seeing his sixty-year-old dick pics."

"Oh my god, stop!" Anna gasped, laughing almost hysterically at this point. Jake shook his head at her.

"Okay breathe. I don't need you passing out on me. Eat your ice cream and calm down," he joked. Anna sobered up, taking a few more licks at the melting vanilla cone.

"I'm good, I'm good. Thanks for taking one for the team, I guess," she said, holding back another round of laughter. "But, there wasn't anything illegal from Palmer, right?"

"No, not that I saw, and I saw a lot, so just take my word for it."

"Alright, I do. I trust you." Jake shivered as he put the photos from Palmer aside and tried to forget. "Well, how about Obadiah?"

Jake stopped walking. Anna didn't realize and kept walking but stopped and turned back towards him when he spoke again, "I wasn't able to dig up anything."

"What do you mean? You couldn't find _anything_. I put a hole in the firewall so you could access the network from the inside with internal ports instead of trying to do it all externally. What kept you from gaining access to his files?" Anna rambled.

"I don't know. He must have really amped up his security. Beyond what you knew of, anyway. The only way you're going to be able to access his files is by getting them directly from his computer."

"Dammit!" the younger girl exclaimed, earning the concerned looks of surrounding beachgoers.

"Hey, don't worry too much about it right now," Jake said, trying to comfort her. "Let's just enjoy each other's company and the rest of our ice cream before the benefit tonight. We can deal with this more tomorrow when we have time to actually sit down and come up with a solution."

Anna sighed in defeat, knowing he was right. "Fine. But if I'm gonna let this go, I'm going to need more food."

"We just got pizza for lunch as well as ice cream! How much more could you possibly eat?"

She shrugged, indifferently, "What can I say? Corporate espionage makes me hungry."

* * *

Anna and Jake were back at the Stark mansion, getting ready for the benefit that evening when it struck Anna why she didn't go out in public much; the true reason why she was a seventeen-year-old hermit in a million dollar mansion.

"America's sweetheart, child prodigy, and heiress to Stark Industries, Anna Stark was spotted strolling the beach with a mystery man today. Witnesses spotted the two as they spent the day together, grabbing lunch and ice cream while sinking their toes in the sand. Some reports stated that at one point Anna seemed to get upset before being comforted by mister tall, dark and handsome," the blonde reporter stated with a few eyebrow waggles thrown in. Several pictures of Anna and Jake's day out popped up on the TV screen. "This isn't the first time she's been spotted with this man, now being identified as Jacob Hall, an apparent 'friend' of Stark's from MIT. The two were spotted multiple times together in Boston while Stark was finishing her education and they were also seen globetrotting together in popular party locations such as Ibiza, Seoul, and Tel Aviv. It's even been leaked that Stark has made her private jet available so that the two could visit each other regularly. Is this Anna's new boy toy? What does think her father thinks about all of this? Tweet us and let us know what you think!"

Anna groaned, turning off her TV before falling back onto her bed on top of the dresses she was deciding between. Rumors of a relationship between her and Jake had always seemed to find their way into the media. Was it truly that hard to believe that a girl could be friends with a guy?

Her thoughts ceased as she heard footsteps rapidly approaching her bedroom door. Seconds later her door burst open to reveal a smirking Jake. "Did you hear what they said?"

"About you, my 'boy toy'? Yes, I did. All lies." Jake laughed.

"No, I meant the part about me being 'tall, dark and handsome,' of course," he amended with a goofy smile.

"Like I said," Anna started, smiling at the goofy look on her best friend's face. "All lies. You're pale as shit. And don't blame it on only being at the beach for a day either, because you live in New Mexico, aka the only place in America that is arguably hotter than hell."

"Actually, I think that's Death Valley, which is in California-," he stated.

"Now you're just splitting hairs," Anna interrupted.

"But, anyway, I'm sorry that my skin has not yet adjusted to sunlight. We did just spend how many months of the last few years in Massachusetts. I'm lucky I'm not a walking lobster right now after being on the beach for a few hours."

"Whatever," she chuckled, waving off her friend. "Go, finish getting ready or we're going to be late."

"Listen to who's talking. You have like eight dresses on your bed."

"Exactly. And I still have to decide which one I'm going to wear and the longer you're in my room, the longer it's going to take, so shoo." He raised his hands in surrender as she ushered him out of her bedroom.

Anna turned back to the pile of dresses on her bed. She had opted for a longer, more formal dress since she didn't want to appear as if she were just going to another party. There were going to be very important people attending tonight, it wasn't just another club outing. Eventually, the teen decided on a black dress with floral print and a plunging neckline. The neckline may seem a little risqué for her age, but the bust covered everything so it wasn't ostentatious. Her makeup and hair were already done, so she slipped on a pair of strappy black heels and went to the living room to meet Jake.

"Wow, you look great! But not as good as me," Jake joked as she descended the stairs. She rolled her eyes.

"Obviously. I mean how could I compare to Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome?" she jested in return.

"You took the words right out of my mouth. But, seriously, you look great. I'm very lucky to be your boy toy." She chuckled at his choice of words as he offered her his arm leading her to the front door.

"Ah, Miss Stark," JARVIS's voice rang out over the empty living room. They were the only ones in the mansion. At least that's what Anna assumed. Everyone else was already there, her father included since she figured Pepper would've made sure he got there. "The limo just arrived out front for you and Mr. Hall."

"Thank you, JARVIS."

The two left the mansion and got in the limo heading to the banquet. "By the way," Anna said facing Jake in the car, "You look very dapper in your tux."

"Why, thank you! So, there's definitely going to be press here. What's the game plan?"

"If they ask, we'll just answer with the truth: that our relationship is strictly platonic and we're best friends. Take a few pictures. Then, we'll hurry inside before the real interrogations start. Sound good?"

"Sounds fine to me. God knows, I love you but more like a sister than anything else. Where else would I be in this world without my ultimate wing woman?"

"Probably in jail. When you drink, you get stupid," she laughed at him.

"No arguments there. Speaking of which, is there an after party to this thing?" he asked, sounding hopeful. Hopes that she would crush.

"No. It's a pretty distinguished charity event. Lots of old people. It's why I dragged you along, so you could suffer with me," she shrugged.

Jake groaned, "I'll forgive you, but only this once." She patted his cheek somewhat forcefully and pouted.

"Aww poor baby, you'll get over it," she teased in a baby voice.

The limo pulled up outside of the venue, paparazzi lined up along the red carpet. The driver got out of the limo to open the back door. Jake got out first and the cameras started flashing immediately. He held his hand out to help Anna out of the car, keeping her from losing her balance as she exited. Once safely on her own two feet, Jake dropped her hand and followed behind her as she made her way up the carpet. They were stopped a few times for pictures and asked about their relationship, which they had expected and answered accordingly, before finally being able to enter the venue.

Anna saw no trace of Obadiah inside the venue, nor did she spot her father. The only person she could see in the crowd was Pepper wearing a beautiful blue gown as well as the sapphire earrings that Anna had just given to her for the older woman's birthday. Anna turned to Jake, "Hey, I haven't seen my dad yet. I'm going to ask Pepper about it. Can you grab me a coke and meet me over there?"

"No problem."

The young Stark made her way over the redhead who was standing on the edge of the dancefloor, lightly swaying to the music, a cocktail in hand. "Hey, Pepper," Anna called as she approached.

Pepper turned towards the familiar voice, "Anna, you're here. Glad you made it here all right. Where's Jake at?"

"He's just grabbing us some drinks while I came over. Where's dad? I figured he'd be here for his own party. I mean the whole thing is Stark sponsored."

"I don't know if he's coming. I haven't really talked about it much with him and Obadiah is trying to keep him out of the limelight as much as possible as he runs damage control after the press conference. At least that's what I got when Obi spoke to me about it briefly."

Ever since Jake brought up Obi possibly being the one responsible for the Ten Rings getting a hold of Stark weaponry, Anna had been on edge with anything relating to the man. The media was already portraying Tony as an irrational man, making decisions that were 'jeopardizing his company', and Anna didn't think that Obi was helping the situation by keeping her father from board meetings and public, company sponsored events. It was like he was trying to make her father look even more like a detached, PTSD-ridden recluse who couldn't possibly run a weapons industry worth millions. Her gut feeling about Obadiah was getting worse and worse, but she had no proof since she was shut out of hacking his files.

"Oh alright, thanks for letting me know. I'm going to run to the restroom, I'll be right back." Before Pepper could say anything else, Anna was gone. She wasn't really going to the restroom. She was just going to intercept Jake to talk to him before he got to Pepper and her with their drinks.

Anna found him not far from the bar, having been stopped by a beautiful dark-skinned girl who seemed to be flirting with him. Anna had little patience for pleasantries at the moment but didn't want to come across as completely rude since everyone at the benefit would recognize her for sure.

"Hello," she interrupted the two as nicely as possible, "I just need to borrow him for a second. I promise I'll return him." Before an answer could be given, she grabbed Jake by his wrist and pulled him off to the side of the room.

"What's up?" he said, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as he handed her the coke she had previously asked for.

"I just found out that my dad doesn't even realize that the benefit is tonight," Anna paused, running a hand down her face in exasperation, "I should've said something, but I figured he already knew and we were so wrapped up in our work when we were together that I never really brought it up. When you coming to visit would come up in conversation, he must've just figured that you were visiting like usual, not to accompany me to this."

"Okay, well calm down a second, why is it such a big deal that he isn't here? Your dad is always blowing off events he doesn't want to go to. Just like when he didn't accept his award when he was in Vegas the last time you came home to visit before graduation."

"Jake, Obadiah didn't tell my dad about the benefit." Jake continued to look at her, waiting for her to elaborate further. "Obadiah is under suspicion by us for double-dealing and possibly setting my dad up to be kidnapped. He hasn't been inviting my father to board meetings. Now, he isn't informing him of company events for my dad to attend. Obadiah is trying to make every shitty thing the media has been saying about my father since that damn press conference appear truer than ever before."

"Then tell him to come here," Jake said simply.

Anna paused, confused. "Who Obadiah? He's already—," she started but was cut off.

"No, your dad. You know that he _doesn't_ know about the party. So tell him to get his ass over here now. That way if what you're saying about Obadiah is true, which you know I believe you about everything, Tony can be here himself to prove everyone wrong."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Anna removed her cell phone from her clutch and sent a text to her dad. She would've called him but didn't want anyone to draw any attention to herself and try to keep up her appearance of an aloof daughter, unaware of the reasoning behind her father's absence. A minute or two later, she got a text back saying that Tony was on his way.

Now all she had to do was wait for him to get here.

* * *

Anna mingled amongst the other partygoers before being approached by a familiar man, the same man who had been sitting in the audience when she was unveiling her maglev skates.

"Miss Stark," he greeted, holding out his hand for her to shake, "My name is Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division."

"What a mouthful. You do know that the acronym for that is SHIELD, right?" she joked, shaking his hand. He smiled politely back.

He was impressed that she picked up on that so quickly. "Yes, it's still a work in progress for actually introducing ourselves as that though. I was very impressed with your project from MIT. Have any plans for the technology yet?"

Anna tried to tell if he was fishing for information for any nefarious purposes, but Agent Coulson seemed to be just a pleasant person who was genuinely interested. "Um no, not yet. Also, a work in progress you might say. I haven't decided which route I want to go with it."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," he replied, before pausing and getting to the real reason he stopped to talk to the young heiress. "So, where is your father tonight? I thought that he would be here."

"He's on his way," Anna quickly answered, not wanting to hear peoples' speculations about her dad's lack of attendance. "Fashionably late, as per usual."

"Good to know. I still need to speak to him on behalf of my agency about the circumstances of his escape." She knew he was referring to the Ten Rings and the Mark 1 suit. Judging by the name of the agency, it wasn't so hard to believe they would be interested in that. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" he continued.

Now, Anna knew he was fishing for information, even if it was polite. She decided to play dumb and pretend that her father had never told her a thing about his kidnapping. If he wanted this agency to know about it, then he could tell them himself.

"No, I'm afraid I don't know anything about that. He's been pretty quiet about it since returning home. Really throwing himself into his work." The conversation was coming to an end as Anna watched her father strut into the venue and towards the bar. She smiled, knowing that she bested Obadiah even slightly by getting Tony to come to the event. "Well, Agent Coulson, it seems as if my father has arrived. I'll leave you to it." The two nodded at each other as a farewell and went their separate ways; Agent Coulson towards her father and her over to where Jake and Pepper were conversing.

A few minutes later, the group of three was surprised by a voice, "You look fantastic. I didn't recognize you." Tony made his way over to them, eyes glued to Pepper. Anna and Jake shared a knowing look before smirking at the billionaire and his assistant.

"What are you doing here?" Pepper responded, surprised.

"Avoiding government agents." Anna had to snicker at that one. Her father turned to her. "You look beautiful, Anna. Just like your mom."

"Thanks, dad." Tony didn't talk so much about her mom, so passing comments like that meant a lot to Anna.

"Jacob," Tony greeted her friend in a jokingly serious manner, shaking his hand.

"Mr. Stark," he greeted before the two cracked a smile at each other. Tony had known Jake since Anna started at MIT. He had been one of the few people his daughter could really trust. One of the few people who wanted to be Anna's friends for her, not for her name. He respected that about the young man.

"So, wait," Pepper started again, addressing the older Stark, "Are you by yourself?"

Tony ignored her question and instead asked one of his own, "Where'd you get that dress?"

Pepper laughed slightly, "Oh, well, actually it was a birthday present from you."

"I have great taste."

Anna watched the exchange with amusement. For as long as she can remember, she wanted the two of them to get together. "Well, Jake and I are going to go dance, so we'll leave you two to do, well, whatever," she finished with a light laugh. Pulling Jake off to the dance floor, the two made light conversation as they swayed.

Jake told her how his family was doing and she asked him about plans now that he had graduated. He had gotten a few offers from tech companies around the world but hadn't solidified anything yet. Anna didn't know what he was waiting for, honestly. Her future had been set for her, but she didn't want Jake to miss an opportunity for a great career.

The two watched Anna's father and Pepper head out to the balcony only for her father to come back inside without the redhead a few moments later. He headed to the bar before Anna recognized a familiar blonde heading his way.

"Shit," Anna muttered under her breath.

"What," Jake wondered, following her line of sight.

"Just a snobby journalist who doesn't know when to buzz off," Anna began her way over to where her father was being cornered by Christine Everheart.

"I was out of town for a couple months," he father replied with a slight sneer. "Maybe you didn't hear."

Anna reached her father's side with Jake right behind her as Miss Everheart questioned, "Is this what you call accountability?!" She handed a small stack of photos to Tony. "It's a town called Gulmira."

Anna looked over her father's shoulder as he shuffled through the pictures. They showed cases and cases of Stark weaponry, missiles even, in the possession of terrorist organizations. If there had been any doubt in Anna's mind at this point about the possibility of double-dealing, it was gone. Now, she fully understood why Tony shut down the weapons manufacturing branch of the company.

"When were these taken?" Tony asked.

"Yesterday," the blonde journalist replied with a sneer of her own.

"I didn't approve any shipment."

"Well, your company did."

"Well, I'm not my company," Tony stated finally.

The older Stark stalked out of the venue and Anna went to follow him, telling Jake to get Pepper home safely. He nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation.

Anna found her father talking to Obadiah outside; where he had been thank people for their attendance to the benefit as they left. Her father questioned his business partner about the photos he had just been shown and questioned about. Christine followed the two Starks out as well.

Anna stood next to her dad as he spoke to Obadiah. "Have you seen these pictures? Huh? What's going on—?"

"Tony, Tony, you can't afford to be this naïve," the older man started in a condescending fashion that made Anna glower at him.

"You know what, I was naïve before when they told me, here's the line, we don't cross it. That's how we do business. If we're double-dealing under the table… Are we?" Obadiah paused and stared at Tony for a few moments before turning to the press to get a picture.

The older man grabbed Anna on her shoulder and ushered her into the picture as well, on Tony's other side. It was then when Stane revealed his true self to the Starks, "Tony, who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you."

Jake was right about Obadiah. Anna had been becoming increasingly suspicious about the man and she had every right to be. Everything she had thought had been true. He was trying to remove Tony from his own company and with Anna not old enough to take over, he was going to be calling all of the shots.

Her dad stood still on the stairs, taking in everything that just happened. She turned to him, arms crossed over her chest, a determined look on her face. "So, what's the next move? There's no way I'm letting him just shut us out."

Tony locked eyes with his daughter, the same look on her face mirrored on his. "Yeah, there's no way in hell that's happening."

* * *

 **Thank you, everyone, who has stuck with me thus far! I really appreciate your support for this story! I had a rough past week and it made me very happy to be able to post this chapter! Please review and let me know what you think!**

 **Also, I figured I'd let you know who I picture as Anna and Jake. Anna is portrayed by Ana de Armas and Jake is portrayed by Chris Wood. Anna's mother, Sofia, was also portrayed by Jamie-Lynn Siegler. I'll update the important cast members as they're introduced in a short AN at the end of the chapter.**


	6. Chapter 5

After the benefit, Anna retrieved Jake to recruit him in their efforts. She didn't give him the complete story, leaving out all the parts concerning her father's suit. She did clue him in on Obadiah being behind locking the Starks out of their own company and the double-dealing with terrorists. While her and her father were revamping the armor and making the Mark 3, she needed someone to continue digging into Stark Industries traitorous dealings.

Jake's job was to be their proverbial fly on the wall, hacking into the servers of Stark Industries with Tony and Anna's help. He was to monitor any new and useful information that would help the father-daughter duo in their overthrow of Obadiah. And he could do all of this from the safety of Albuquerque. She may want and need his help, but the less entangled he was in this, the better.

Although, the Starks weren't targeting Obi just yet. Stark Industries was just the supplier, and with no demand, the supplier was out of business. No, they weren't targeting the United States government; Tony and Anna's next target was the Ten Rings.

* * *

Tony sat on a couch in the workshop, watching the news coverage about the Ten Rings taking over Gulmira. The longer he stared at the screen, seeing the weapons that he designed carted over the small town, the angrier he grew. The grip on his screwdriver tightened as he made adjustments to one of his gauntlets. That was when he recognized one of the faces on the screen; the leader of the Ten Rings and the same man who held him hostage in Afghanistan.

Standing and walking closer to the television, he tossed the screwdriver onto the nearby countertop. He lifted his right arm, the arm with the gauntlet, and shot a blast through the workshop. Seeing the damage the gauntlet was able to do, he tested it out again, shooting out the windows that separated the workshop from the staircase.

Satisfied, he went to go put the suit on, not hearing the thundering of footsteps coming down the stairs because of all the commotion.

Anna reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, only to see glass littering the floor. "What the hell?" she yelled over to her father who was already suiting up.

"Didn't mean to scare you Anna," he replied to her. She glanced over to the television, realizing what he was watching.

"You shouldn't go after them yet. I thought we were going to make more adjustments to the suit. I'm gone for thirty minutes to take a power nap and you're ready to take off halfway across the world to fight a terrorist group." Anna ran her fingers through her unruly brunette locks, a frustrated look dawning her face.

With all his armor on except for the helmet, he walked over to meet in the center of the workshop. "I don't want you to worry about me. I need to do this."

"I know you do. I'm not asking you not to do it. I just want us to do this together. You may have the suit but I can still help you. Obadiah is ruining not just our company, but also our legacy. I won't let that happen. I'm with you on this." Anna stated firmly, arms crossed in front of her chest, unyielding.

Tony gave Anna a smile, proud of the strong young woman she had become. He knew he couldn't take credit for any of it thought. He may not have been as absent during her childhood as his father was during his, and they may not have butted heads as much as he and his father did, but he still had his parenting weaknesses. If anything, Tony would say her strength was genetic. Sofia was strong too. But, he knew that she had another good influence in her life, and that was certain redhead assistant that had become a constant in his life as well.

"Good luck dad. Stay safe, and kick some ass." Anna said, smiling back at her father. He put his helmet on and quickly took off out of the workshop on the way to Gulmira.

Not wasting a second, Anna donned her headset and hurried to sit in front of the monitors. Setting up the display so that she could see what her father was seeing, she prepared herself to help him out.

Not too long passed before her father landed in a crouch in front of Ten Rings soldiers. Bullets ricocheted off the suit causing no damage to her father inside. Once the soldiers realized their weapons were having no effect, they grabbed nearby citizens, that they had been previously rounding up, and held them at gunpoint.

"Locking onto each of them," Anna stated through the headset, knowing her father would hear her on the other end. She typed in a quick code, signaling to JARVIS to single out the combatants. "Stand still," she told Tony. The display showed the suit locking onto the targets before guns rose out of the shoulder plates of the suit and took them out.

"There's another in the building to your right. He fled there after they stopped shooting," the teenager said.

Tony remained silent on the other end of the comm unit as he approached a nearby building, thrusting his fist through the wall and yanking the Ten Rings member through it. He tossed the cowering man to the ground and looked to the civilians who were still in shock. "He's all yours," Tony said to them, voice sounding mechanical due to the suit. The older Stark took off into the air, beginning the flight home before he was shot out of the air.

"Shit!" Anna yelled through the comms, "You okay?"

"Yep," Tony groaned, climbing out of the crater he created as he crashed to the ground. As he got back to his feet, he saw a tank down the street. Lifting his arm, he shot a small explosive at the tank and turned to walk in the other direction. Behind him, the tank blew up. Bullets hit him from all directions as more Ten Rings combatants fired at him. Ignoring their fire, he launched back into flight. Before he left, he recognized some Stark Industries missiles and shot at them, blowing them up as well before leaving.

"That was badass," he heard Anna mumble causing him to chuckle.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I'm on my way home."

"Sounds good, dad. See ya soon!"

Anna pushed away from the monitors a little, reclining back in her chair and kicking her feet up onto the desk.

Her attention was brought back to the screen as she heard her dad's voice speak up, except he wasn't talking to her.

"Hello," her father answered the phone call.

"Tony," Anna heard Rhodey's voice through the comms in her father's suit.

"Who is this?" he father asked over the roaring of the wind around him.

"Tony, hey, it's Rhodes."

"Sorry, hello," her father asked again. Afraid to speak over the comms with her dad on the phone, Anna typed _Rhodey_ into the computer to send to the suit's display.

"I said, it's Rhodes."

"Speak up please."

"What in the hell is that noise?" Rhodey asked, hearing the wind from Tony's flight.

"I'm driving with the top down," Tony lied easily.

"Yeah, well I need your help right now."

"It's funny how that works, huh?" the snarky lilt in his voice making Anna smirk.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny," Rhodey started, sounding distracted. "We've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive."

"Well, that's a, that's a hotspot." He took a deep breath. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you."

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey questioned, suspicious.

"I'm not. I was just jogging in the canyon," Tony tried. Anna dropped her head, realizing her father's mistake and hoping that Rhodey didn't.

He did. "I thought you were driving."

"Right, I was driving...uh, to the canyon where I'm gonna jog," the older Stark said, fumbling to cover his mistake.

"You sure you don't have any tech in the area I should know about?"

"Nope." Anna caught on to a couple of jets on her father's tail due to the radar she set up. _Behind you,_ she typed to him.

"Okay, good. 'Cause I'm staring at one right now and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."

Tony noticed the jets come up behind him and pushed the suit to go faster. "That's my exit," he said to Rhodey before hanging up. He connected back with Anna after hanging up, "Think he's still suspicious?"

"Uh, maybe," Anna answered. "At this point, I'd think I would rather him know so you don't get shot out of the sky again, and this time permanently."

"Any suggestions to shake them would be appreciated."

"Go supersonic. Try and get as much distance from them as possible so they can't lock on to you." Tony followed his daughter's advice. But, just as he did one of the jets shot a missile at him.

"Flares!" he yelled out, signaling JARVIS to activate the flares in the suit. The flares scattered through the air, covering Tony and setting off the missile before it could get to him. However, the force from the blast threw Tony off course and he tumbled out of the sky before regaining stability.

The jets began to fire on him once again, a few rounds skimming the surface of the armor. Tony yelled out in surprise causing his daughter to tense in her position back in the workshop. In an attempt to dodge the high caliber rounds, the older Stark deployed the flaps in the suit.

The flaps caught the air resistance causing the jets to soar past, losing sight of him. Little did they know, he chose to take refuge on the belly of one of the jets.

"I'm calling Rhodey back," her father told her, sounding more out of breath than before.

"Good idea. I'd hate for you to be taken out by friendly fire," she sassed.

Again, she remained quiet as she listened to her dad tell Rhodey that he was the bogey they were in pursuit of. Just as Rhodey assured Tony that the jets were being called back to base, they spotted their bogey again.

The jet that Anna's father was hanging onto began to roll. Not able to hold on any longer, Tony let go of the jet and went hurtling through the air only to take out the wing of the other jet. The other jet began to crash to the ground, the pilot ejecting.

"Dad, there's no parachute. His parachute isn't deploying." Tony realized his daughter was right. The pilot's parachute had yet to deploy. Speeding towards the pilot that was getting closer to the ground by the second, he reached to the back of the seat and deployed the parachute.

"Tony, you still there?" Rhodey asked, picking the call back up.

"Hey, thanks!"

"Oh my god, you crazy son of a bitch," Rhodey chuckled in disbelief. "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

Tony laughed on the other end of the call. "Yeah, well, technically he hit me. So, now you gonna come by and see what I'm working on?"

"No, no, no, no, no," the Air Force liaison denied. "The less I know the better. Now what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Uh, training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?"

"It's not that simple." The two friends finished their call and Tony connected back with Anna.

"He's lying. It's definitely that simple," Anna joked. "So, think you can make it back home without dying this time. I'm gonna grab something to eat and want to make sure it's safe for me to disconnect." The brunette knew that her father needed to do this, and she supported him a hundred percent, but she felt weird leaving him while he was still out in the suit.

It may be the slightest bit of separation anxiety kicking in, but the Stark girl wanted to be there in any way she could. She didn't have a suit of her own to kick ass alongside her father, so the comms were the closest thing she had. And even disconnecting made her worry that something bad could happen and she may never see him or talk to him again.

"I should be alright now," Tony reassured her. "Prep the landing pad to dismantle my suit and grab something for me too while you're at it."

"No problemo. Signing off."

* * *

"So, last night I got an alert that Obi left the country," Jake said through their video call. "Most likely visiting our friends, the Ten Rings. I don't know when he's supposed to be returning or if he's back yet."

"Well, he's probably checking in on his business partners. Rumor has it they haven't had a great last few days." Anna didn't make eye contact with Jake through the call. Instead, she was busy adding more code to the Mark 3's drive, enabling more defensive maneuvers after her dad's last outing.

"Something tells me that you know a lot more about their misfortune than you're letting on," Jake teased, causing the corners of Anna's mouth to turn up in a half smile.

"Maybe," she teased back.

Jake's smile started to fade. "Anna?"

"Huh?" she asked, still looking at the other screen, fully engrossed in her work. It was one of the things that he liked best about her, her ability to throw herself into something completely, and dedicate whatever it took into achieving her goals. However, in instances like these, he worried that this quality could get her hurt or worse.

"Anna. Look at me." She sighed dramatically, and turned to face the monitor that had their video call up.

A teasing smile graced her face, "Yes?"

"Promise me, you'll be careful?" Jake said.

"I'm always careful. It's you that's the reckless one," she joked.

He rolled his eyes and smiled back at her, "You have your reckless moments too. You are your father's daughter." He grew serious though as he asked her again, "Promise me?"

She noticed the change in his usual joking demeanor, "I promise."

"Well, I should get going. Job hunting is a bitch."

"Once we get back control of Stark Industries, you know you'll have a place there."

They both knew he couldn't count on that for the time being. No one knew how long it was going to be before the Starks could get back control over their company.

"Anyway," Anna started again, "I'll get back to you tomorrow to follow up on more information. Tell your parents and Adam, I said hi, okay?"

"Will do!" Jake gave the camera a wave before the screen went black. Anna took a deep breath. Lately, it felt like all her and her best friend spoke about was their spying on Stark Industries. She felt bad about it, but the issue of being locked out of the company with her dad was consuming her. The teenager just hoped it would be over soon, so that everything could return to normal, or at least as close to normal as it could get with her dad flying around in a metal suit fighting bad guys.

* * *

Anna stood by her father as he convinced Pepper to help them. Certain servers and files at Stark Industries were unable to be hacked into externally. Sometimes the virus needed to be implanted from an internal computer.

The mission was that Pepper would go and insert the drive into the computer in what used to be Tony's office. Anna would do it herself but her presence in the building would seem too suspicious if anyone caught on.

Anna would drive them there and connect to the drive remotely with her laptop from the parking garage. All Pepper would have to do is keep watch over the drive until Anna was able to get all the information needed.

So, there they sat, the two women huddled up in Anna's silver Maserati going over the plan one last time. After Pepper seemed confident enough, the redhead left the car and made her way into the building.

Anna waited anxiously in the car, hoping that Pepper was able to get into the office without any issues. Her laptop was open and ready to go; she just needed the text from Pepper saying that she was in the clear. Anna's ringtone went off, startling the young brunette who sat in silence.

 _Go,_ was all the text read.

Anna connected to the drive and hacked into Obadiah's, previously Tony's, computer. The security was quickly disabled and Anna was able to access the files. Odd files labeled Section 16 popped up on the screen. Blueprints opened, many being for the newly released Jericho missile. One particular file full of blueprints caught the young Stark's eye, however. The blueprint shared a striking resemblance to her father's suit, except it was larger overall and bulkier in its build. How in the hell did Obadiah find out about the suit? Anna thought. She deduced it had to be from the Ten Rings. They were the only ones that had any specific knowledge about the armor that didn't include herself or Pepper. Anna looked over the blueprints before a video file caught her attention.

Anna clicked on a video file, aware that everything that she was seeing on her laptop screen was also appearing on the desktop that Pepper was watching.

The video opened with the Ten Rings members standing around a man sitting in a chair with a bag over his head. She inhaled sharply as she realized the man in the chair was her father. The sack over her father's head was pulled off and the leader began speaking. The man in the video was speaking Arabic, so Anna queued the computer to translate it.

"You did not tell us that the target you payed us to kill was the great, Tony Stark." Anna's breath caught in her throat at this information. She knew that Obadiah was not all that he had seemed, taking the company from the Starks and pushing them out. However, she never would have thought that Obadiah would have put out a hit on her father. The man continued, "As you can see Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up." The video ended and the file closed. Barely having a moment to process what she just watched, Anna initiated the drive to copy and download all the files related to Section 16.

Tapping her fingers on the edge of the laptop, she waited anxiously for the copying to finish. The next few minutes passed like hours until finally, it stated the download was complete. She disconnected from the drive and was about to close her laptop when the paranoid part of her stopped her.

Opening her email, she made another copy of the Section 16 files and attached them to an email. Typing Jake's address into the "To" line, she tabbed to the "Subject" line and typed _For Safe Keeping—Open When You're Alone_. Saying nothing else, she sent the email. Jake's promise came back to her. With the knowledge that Obadiah didn't just want her father out of the picture but dead, Anna's anxiety spiked with the newfound danger.

Her phone went off, signaling an incoming text as she packed her laptop up. She pulled out her phone to see the message from Pepper, _Get out of here. Obadiah caught me in the office._ Another message came through, _He didn't see anything. But you have to go. I'm safe._

The relief of knowing Pepper was okay only lasted a few minutes. A new sense of urgency filled Anna as she threw her car into gear and quickly got as far away from Stark Industries as possible. She pulled out her phone to call her dad, but he wasn't answering. Logically, she knew that Obi hadn't gotten to him yet. If Obadiah did know somehow that she and Pepper had gotten a hold of his files, it would still take him the same amount of time to get to Malibu as it would her, right?

Panic not subsiding, Anna dialed a new number, waiting for the person to pick up.

"Anna?" Rhodey's voice answered. The young Stark could almost cry. She was so relieved to be able to get in touch with someone who could help.

"Rhodey. Listen to me carefully. Obadiah is behind my dad's kidnapping," Anna said, trying to get a hold of herself.

"What are you talking about?" the Air Force liaison replied, sounding less confused and more concerned.

"Obadiah payed the Ten Rings to kidnap and kill my father, except they only succeeded in part of it. He's been double-dealing with terrorists under the table, Rhodey! He knew that if my dad found out, he would never stand for it, so he tried to have him removed, permanently. When we found him and brought him back, Obadiah moved to have him locked out of the company. It was all him Rhodey!" Anna was practically hysterical by the end of her explanation. "I'm on my way home now but my dad wasn't picking up the phone and..."

"Anna. Anna! Take a deep breath okay. I'm on my way to your place. I'll meet you there. Okay?"

"Okay." The called ended and she continued on her way home. The sun had set on the drive home leaving her in the darkness and silence. She couldn't bring herself to turn on the radio and try to drown out all the thoughts going through her mind.

Whipping her car into the driveway and down to the workshop, she exited quickly and ran inside. "Dad! Dad!" she yelled running towards the stairs. Before she could start up the stairs, she heard a groan to her right. There was her dad laying on the ground, the case from his old arc reactor smashed on the ground next to him. Anna knelt by his side, checking his pulse and letting out a sob of relief when she felt one.

"Dad, wake up, please!" she cried softly. Faintly, she heard someone enter the house upstairs.

"Tony!" she heard Rhodey's voice call.

"He's down here!" Anna called back. Rhodey's footsteps could be heard coming down the steps.

Just as he got to where Anna sat with Tony, the older Stark came back to consciousness.

"Thank God you're okay," she said, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back with as much force as he could muster.

"Anna. Obadiah said he was going to come for you and Pepper too." Anna held back another sob at the mention of Pepper's name. "Where is Pepper?" Tony asked looking to Rhodey as he clutched onto Anna.

"She's fine," Rhodey said. "She's with five agents. They're on their way to arrest Obadiah."

Anna and her father locked eyes for a second, both knowing how big of a threat Obadiah was.

Tony turned back to Rhodey and grabbed onto him, "That's not gonna be enough."

Rhodey and Anna helped Tony to his feet and over to the suit. "Are you sure you're up for this dad? You almost just died!"

"I'm the only one who can stop him." The armor fitted itself around Tony.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen," Rhodey commented in awe.

"Not bad, huh? Let's do it."

"You need me to do anything else?" Tony flipped the front of his helmet down and turned to his friend.

"Keep the skies clear." Shooting through the ceiling, Tony was on his way to Stark Industries.

"Damn," the lieutenant stated. Glancing around the workshop, he spotted another suit that was a work in progress. Shaking his head, he muttered a "next time" before heading over to Tony's silver Audi.

About to get in the driver's seat he realized Anna hadn't moved by her spot at the monitors. "Aren't you coming to the base with me? You'll be safe there."

"When are Starks ever safe, Rhodey? No, I'm going to go get Pepper. She's family and she's in danger. Dad will be too busy with Obi, I need to make sure she's okay."

"How are you going to get there so quickly? Have you got a suit too?"

The brunette took a deep breath and glanced over at her work station where her boots and helmet rested. "No, I've got another trick up my sleeve."

* * *

Donning her protective gear and her metal boots, she put on her helmet and synced with JARVIS.

"Hello, Miss Stark."

"Hello, JARVIS. Link my comms to my dad's." JARVIS connected the comm unit in her helmet to the one in her father's suit.

"Anna?" her father asked, confused. "Why did JARVIS just need to patch you into my comms?"

"Let's just say, in situations like these, sitting behind some monitors just doesn't cut it. I'm going to get Pepper."

"Look Anna," Tony started, but his daughter cut him off.

"There's nothing that you can say that's going to make me stay here worrying about you two until this is over. Pepper is family and I'm going to get her and come home. You worry about stopping Obadiah. That is the mission after all, right?"

Although she couldn't see him as he flew to Stark Industries, he smiled, a familiar proud feeling swelling in his chest. "Right."

"Then, I'll see you on the other side." Anna temporarily muted the comms before addressing JARVIS again. "JARVIS, map out the fastest route to Stark Industries."

"Here is the fastest route. It will take approximately one hour to reach Stark Industries," the AI replied.

"We'll see about that." She secured her wristband that held the controls for her braking and attached her maglev skates. With one last deep breath, she took off up the driveway going at some of the fastest speeds she ever achieved.

Going upwards of one hundred and fifty miles per hour, she arrived at Stark Industries in about thirteen minutes. Weaving in and out of traffic had not been nearly as tricky as she believed it was going to be after only a few test runs.

Anna arrived at the scene as Tony and Obadiah were in the air. She could see them falling from the sky with her enhanced vision display. Unmuting her comm, she braked as she turned into the parking lot in front of the lab with the arc reactor. Pepper was standing outside looking a little shaken.

Coming to a stop in front of the redhead, Anna flipped up her visor.

"Anna!" Pepper exclaimed hugging the Stark girl. The older woman began to ramble about what was going on in the fight between Tony and Obadiah, when suddenly her concern shifted to Anna. "You shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous and Obadiah's gone crazy," Pepper tried to convince the girl that was like a daughter to her. The two men were now on the roof of the building in front of them.

"Pepper, calm down. I know about everything that's going on right now. I can hear my dad through our communication unit, just like how you're talking to him through your Bluetooth. I'm not going anywhere until you come with me. That's why I came here in the first place."

Pepper looked the girl up and down, recognizing her suit and skates from her MIT senior project. She smiled at the young brunette, "Right. Let's get out of here." Anna detached her maglev skates from her boots and attached them to a magnet that was fastened onto the back of her protective gear. Anna and Pepper were prepared to make a run for it when Tony connected to both of them.

"This isn't working. We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof," he said quietly, trying not to draw Obadiah's attention.

"Well, how are you going to do that?" Pepper asked.

"You and Anna are gonna to do it. Go to the central console. Open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's gonna fry everything up here."

Immediately, Anna started forward to begin following her father's instructions while Pepper was a little more hesitant about entering the building.

"Make sure I clear the roof. I'm gonna buy you some time." His comms muted again as Pepper and Anna began flipping the switches to open the circuits.

"Dad it's ready. You gotta get off the roof!" Anna shouted through her comms. Seconds later, the glass on the roof shattered causing Pepper and Anna to duck and protect themselves from the falling shards. They looked up to see Tony dangling from the window frames directly above the reactor. Anna knew her father had to get the hell out of there and now.

"Pepper! Anna!" he shouted to them, helmet gone and no longer able to use the comms. "It's time to hit the button!"

"You told me not to!" Pepper yelled back up to him.

Anna needed him to get off that roof. "Dad! If we push this button, you'll die!"

"Just do it!"

"Dad!"

"Push it!" he shouted one last time as he hung from one arm. Anna closed her eyes and slammed her hand down on the button, trying not to think about the repercussions.

A large energy beam shot through the roof, Anna rushing Pepper out of the building immediately after hitting the master bypass. Once outside the building, Anna and Pepper yelled for Tony.

Anna couldn't believe she pressed the button. She knew they had to stop Obadiah at all costs but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was the cause of her father's death. She just got him back. She refused to lose him again.

Agents began to show up not too long after. Despite the many protests from Pepper, Anna ventured to the roof of the half-destroyed building to find her father. She found him unconscious on the roof, thankfully in one piece and not fried extra crispy. Triggering the manual releases, that she was able to find with the help of JARVIS, Anna freed her father of the Mark 3 armor. The agents found her on the roof clutching her father and ushered her away so they could help him.

Anna spent the rest of the night in a private facility where they were treating her father. The doctors and nurses there checked her and Pepper over as well but the main concern was Tony. Agent Coulson, the man from her project presentation and the benefit, set up the entire ordeal, promising that the entire night would be kept under wraps and no one aside from them would know what truly happened.

* * *

The next morning they gathered in Tony's office at Stark Industries to prepare for the press conference about the incident. Rhodey was already out in front of the press giving them the rehearsed story. Anna sat in a chair beside her father while Pepper fussed over him, covering the injuries on his face and removing the bandage across his nose.

"Iron Man, that's kinda catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate since the suit is a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery anyway," Tony stated reading over the newspaper about him in his suit.

Anna had to agree on the name that they gave him, regardless of the technicalities. She pulled at the hem of her shirt as she waited for Coulson to brief them on their statements.

The agent came over and handed Tony small stack of blue index cards. "Here's your alibi."

"Okay," her father replied, taking the cards.

"You were on your yacht."

"Yeah."

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from fifty of your guests," Coulson said, going over the alibi.

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just the three of us, on vacation on a private island." Coulson smiled politely but didn't budge on the statement.

"That's what happened."

Ton agreed, "Alright."

"Just read it, word for word."

Tony shuffled through the index cards and looked back up at Coulson, "There's nothing about Stane here."

"That's being handled. He's on vacation," the agent said, before elaborating. "Small aircraft have such a poor safety record." Anna didn't like that part of the cover up. She knew that they couldn't come out to the public about her dad being this 'Iron Man,' but she hated that Obadiah got off easy for the cover up too. She wished the public could know that the hell her family had been through over the last few months was because of Stane. She wanted to air his dirty laundry but she had to bite her tongue.

"What about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard?" Tony questioned. "He's my... I mean, is that... That's kinda flimsy, don't you think?"

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got ninety seconds."

Anna stood and began to straighten her clothes so she was camera ready. Her dad still sat in his chair reading over the cards while Pepper went to say goodbye to Agent Coulson.

"I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help," Pepper said as he was leaving.

"She's saying that from all of us too," Anna added.

He smiled politely at the two women, "That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us."

"From the Strategic Homeland—," Pepper tried before being cut off.

"Just call us SHIELD," he corrected her. Turning to Anna, he gave her a subtle wink and she remembered how she told him the agency's named spelled out SHIELD when they were at the benefit. Guess their leaders finally decided to make it easy on them. She reached forward to shake his hand and when she did, he slipped a piece of paper into her fist.

As he exited the room, she slipped the paper into her pocket, deciding to read it later.

"Let's get this show on the road," Pepper said, grabbing Tony's suit jacket off the chair.

"You know, it's actually not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man."

"You're not Iron Man," the two women simultaneously said with a smile.

"Am so."

Pepper didn't let up though, "You're not."

"Alright, suit yourself," he held the index cards between his teeth as he slipped his arms through his jacket sleeves. Turning to face Pepper, he continued, "You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this amazing and brilliant daughter who helped me on my missions and this girlfriend who knew my true identity. They'd be a wreck, 'cause they'd always be worrying that I was going to die, yet so proud of the man I'd become. My girlfriend, she'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more crazy about me." Anna rolled her eyes at her father's shameless flirting.

"Tell me you never think about that night," he asked Pepper.

"What night?" she asked back, adjusting his jacket.

"You know."

"Are you talking about the night that we danced and went up on the roof, and then you went downstairs to get me a drink, and you left me there, by myself? Is that the night you're talking about?" she sassed at his flirting. "Thought so."

She stepped back and smiled, "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts."

Pepper remained in the office while Tony and Anna walked out for the press conference. Rhodey introduced her father to the podium and stepped away.

Standing at the podium, with his daughter and friend behind him on both sides, Tony began his statement. "Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop—," Christine Everhart cut him off.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared despite the fact that you—," the blonde reporter was in turn cut off as well.

"I know it's confusing," Tony started, "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

"I never said you were a superhero."

He realized what he said and tried to backtrack, "Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and... fantastic." Tony paused and took a breath. "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public." Tony mumbled the last part.

Rhodey took the opportunity to whisper to Tony a reminder to stick to the cards. Anna felt helpless as she watched her father try to make his way through this press conference.

"The truth is..." he trailed off, looking out at the sea of reporters before glancing back at his daughter. With one look, Anna could tell what he wanted. He wanted her permission to say it, knowing the chaos it would bring. But, Anna wouldn't deny him that. Because she wanted it too. She wanted the world to know that Tony Stark was more than what they all thought. He turned back to the crowd and said the words that would change their lives forever.

"I am Iron Man."

* * *

Tired after the events of the day and being swarmed by the press, the Starks sat in the back of the town car on the way home. Anna looped her arm around her father's and rested her head on his shoulder. Smiling and closing her eyes, she felt her dad tilt his head to rest on hers.

"I'm proud of you," she said. "Throughout all of this, you seem like a new person. Like you have a new purpose in the world."

"I do. You know what they say about near death experiences making you appreciate life more? Well it's true." He sighed. "I'm proud of you too."

After about another twenty minutes of sitting in the peaceful quiet of the town car, they pulled up in front of the mansion. The two Starks got out and entered the house.

"JARVIS!" Tony called out to the AI.

"Welcome home, sir. You as well, Miss Stark," JARVIS greeted.

Suddenly, another voice called out from the living room, "'I am Iron Man.' You think you're the only superhero in the world?" A tall African-American man stepped forward out of the shadows. He was dressed in a long black coat, and eyepatch covering one eye. The man was intimidating by all means and Tony made sure that Anna stayed behind him with this stranger in the house. "Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

"Who the hell are you?" he dad asked.

"Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD," the mysterious man said, introducing himself.

Anna spoke up when SHIELD was mentioned, "Why are you here?"

"Mr. Stark, I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative." Anna glanced from the director to her father before deciding to leave them alone for this conversation.

"I'll let you two talk then. 'Night Dad," she excused herself and headed for her room. Stripping off her clothes from the day and changing into a pair of pajamas, she noticed a slip of paper on the ground next to her discarded pants. It was the paper that Coulson gave her earlier that day. Unfolding it, she saw that it was a business card with his contact information on one side. Scrunching her nose up in confusion, she turned to card over to see handwriting.

 _SHIELD is always looking for extraordinary individuals.  
We'll be in touch._

* * *

 **Well that's the end of Iron Man. Sorry it took so long to update but here's probably the longest chapter in the story. Life just gets in the way sometimes. I've graduated from college and am now in Grad School so yay! With my schedule being a little more flexible hopefully it won't be another few months before I can get another chapter out. I think inspiration was a little difficult for me with this exposition too since Anna is kinda a supporting character for this first movie.**

 **But, I'm looking forward to Iron Man 2 where the first mentions of Cap will come in and then lead into the Avengers. After Avengers, Anna will have a story-line of her own that will kinda play out like her own standalone film.**


	7. Chapter 6

Anna stood backstage of the main pavilion at the Stark Expo. With her headset in place and her tablet in hand, the now eighteen-year-old Stark directed the girls scantily clad in mock Iron Man costumes to the wings of the stage. Glancing down at the tablet, she could see the view from her father's suit. "270 at 30 knots. Holding steady at 15,000 feet. You are clear for exfiltration over the drop zone, Dad," she spoke into the headset, cueing her father's entrance." Turning to the Jake and the other men sitting at the sound and lights board, she motioned at them to start the show, "Cue the music and lights." _Shoot to Thrill_ by ACDC begins to play in the speakers surrounding the stage and the roar of the crowd gets lighter. Seconds later, Tony lands on the stage in a crouch.

If Anna thought the thundering shouts and applause of the audience was loud before, she was proven wrong. The music continued to play; the dancers went out to do their part of the performance and fireworks shot off in the background, all while her father was being removed from the suit. It was all very ostentatious for the younger Stark, who while at times had her dramatic moments where she wanted to be the center of attention, was still more reserved than her father. The suit was finished being dismantled and the dancers were exiting the stage.

"Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony!" the crowd chanted.

Her father stood center stage, arms open to the elated audience, "It's good to be back! You missed me?"

Anna chuckled as she heard someone from the audience yell, "Blow something up!" Her tablet forgotten for the moment, she stood just off stage and watched her father through the curtains.

"I missed you too. Blow something up? I already did that," her father continued. "I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me. I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day." The crowd hooted and hollered, loving every second of the speech.

"I love you, Tony!" a woman shouted from the audience.

Tony addressed the call by continuing his speech while the crowd continued to chant his name, "Please, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo!"

The roar of the crowd was deafening. They were eating this up.

"And now, to help me usher in the brighter future. I present my daughter, and the future of Stark Industries, Anna Stark!" Anna had not been expecting her father to invite her onto the stage. Quickly gathering her wits, she hands her tablet to Jake who came to stand nearby and walked out on the stage to stand beside her father. With the introduction of Tony's own legacy, the crowd erupted again.

"Thank you, everyone, for joining us on this journey of innovation and technology," Anna spoke, addressing the audience. "To help us start off, making a special appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my grandfather and founder of Stark Industries, Howard."

The two Starks vacated the stage as the clip of Howard Stark played. "Everything is achievable through technology. Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here at Stark Industries, I would like to personally introduce you to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind…" As the video played, Anna did not realize her father had wandered farther away. She turns to look for him and finds him with his back towards her, head down. Moving to stand beside him, she sees the blood toxicity test in his hands. The screen giving a reading of nineteen percent.

Anna and her father discovered the cons to the arc reactor's palladium core not too long before and Tony's blood toxicity was rapidly increasing. The notion made Anna anxious, but she also remained optimistic. Despite any toxicity being bad, nineteen percent was still relatively low. There was still plenty of time to come up with a way to fix this. Although, Anna did notice a spike in toxicity whenever her dad used the Iron Man suit.

"You have to take it easy and only use the suit whenever necessary, dad. Just two days ago it only read twelve percent," Anna commented seriously. Tony sighed and nodded at his daughter knowing she was right.

"And one day rid society of all its ills. Soon technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo. Welcome," Howard's voice finished in the background.

With that, the start of the Expo wrapped up and the group consisting of Tony, Anna, Jake and Happy moved through the crowd with purpose. It was a bit of a chaotic scene. Everyone was calling out to Anna and her father trying to get a quote or comment for whatever news station they were with. Others asked for an autograph or picture. Tony ruffled the head of a young boy in an Iron Man helmet. A blonde woman even came up to Tony telling him to call her. As if he even has your number, Anna thought. The younger Stark also had her fair share of admirers, you girls and boys alike who looked up the teenage genius. She herself was even hit on by a decently attractive guy before her father, Happy and Jake, shooed off said guy. She rolled her eyes at their overprotective attitudes. Larry King even made an appearance in the hustle and bustle of their exit.

The group finally got out of the building to see Tony's new Audi and Anna's new Maserati waiting for them. Anna loved her old car but when the new model came out, she traded in the 2009 and upgraded. The only thing that was out of place was the auburn-haired woman leaning against the Audi waiting for them.

"Look what we got here, the new model," Happy said, looking at the attractive woman.

"Hey, does she come with the car?" her father asked back.

Jake decided to throw in his own comment, "I certainly hope so." I rolled my eyes again. Boys. An attractive guy cannot even look at me without them getting their panties in a twist and here they are all ogling the same girl.

"Hi," Happy and her father greeted before Tony continued, "And you are?"

"Marshal," the woman answered simply.

"Irish. I like it," her father quipped.

"Pleased to meet you, Tony," Marshal replied.

"I'm on the wheel," Tony said as he got into the driver's seat, Happy going around to the passenger's side as Anna and Jake stood off to the side. "Do you mind? Where are you from?"

"Bedford."

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." She mainly kept eye contact with Tony through the conversation but at this point, her eyes shifted to Anna too, causing the young brunette's nose to scrunch in confusion.

"Yeah? You found me. What are you up to later?"

And there was the catch. "Serving subpoenas." The woman pulled out two files, holding one out to Tony. The older Stark makes a face before Anna reaches out to take it.

"Yikes," is Tony's only response.

Anna grabs the letter, "He doesn't like to be handed things."

"Yeah, I have a peeve." The Court Marshal then gives the second letter to Anna.

"I got it. Then I may as well give this to you too. You have both been served." Anna passes the one subpoena to her father, knowing he would take it from her. "You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow at 9 am."

Tony looked at the document briefly before turning back to the Marshal, "Can I see a badge?"

"You wanna see the badge?" she asks.

"He likes the badge," Happy interjects. She pulls a badge out of her pocket and flips it open.

"You still like it?"

Tony stares at the badge for a moment as if thinking about it before spouting out a "yep" and starting the car engine. The Court Marshal backs away from the vehicle as Anna and Jake turn to the other two.

"How far are we from D.C.?" Tony asks Happy.

"D.C.? 250 miles." He guesses.

"Then I guess we'll meet you there," Anna calls over and she begins to walk to her own vehicle. The Audi takes off down the road and Jake turns to his best friend.

"I'll take the first round of driving?" he states, sounding more like a question.

Anna shrugs and tosses him the keys, moving to the passenger's side, "Sure. Why not?" and the two friends were on their way.

* * *

Anna is rudely awakened the next morning when the sheer power of the sun blinds her through her closed eyelids. Squeezing her eyes closed even more, she lobs her arm over her face and rolls over away from the torturous sunlight. "Aghh," she groans in discontent. She picks the pillow out from behind her head in an attempt to bury her face in it only for it to be ripped out of her hands and thrown at her.

At the sudden attack, her green-hazel eyes shoot open only to see the laughing face of her best friends. Narrowing her eyes at Jake, she grabs the pillow again, and hits him with full force, knocking him off the bed beside her. "Go away," she mutters, curling back into her sheets.

"Anna," Jake starts, pulling himself back onto the brunette's bed and jumping on it. "Your Senate hearing is in an hour and a half. We gotta go," he finished in a singsong voice.

"Senator Stern can eat shit, this whole thing is bull. How dare they take away my sleep time, pompous dicks," she grumbled.

Jake laughed at Anna's attitude, "Come on Anna, I thought you were a morning person."

"I am a morning person, just not when I go to bed at four in the morning, and have to wake up three hours later. Thank you very much." She shot Jake a death glare, dark hair flying all over the place. He knew was she was in an especially bad mood, considering he is the one that kept her up to four in the morning playing a Friends drinking game. Not only tired but a little hungover, the Senate hearing was the last place she wanted to be.

"You know," Anna started, getting out of her bed and stretching her muscles. "This is all your fault. I thought you were supposed to be making sure I didn't get trashed before an important event like this."

"What can I say, I guess I'm a bad influence. Now hurry up and get dressed, I'll be waiting in the lobby for you so we can fill you with as much coffee as possible before meeting up with your dad, Happy and Pepper."

"Fine!" After Jake left, Anna stripped off her soft oversized Henley that she was sure she stole from Jake at some point, her short black Soffe shorts, and her undergarments before taking a quick shower. She brushed her teeth, leaving her hair to air dry for the time being and went to change into _appropriate_ clothes. If it had been up to Anna, she would have shown up to the hearing in jeans and a hoodie with her converse propped up on the desk. However, as she pulled on the white jumpsuit with navy stripes on with a navy suit jacket over top. Finishing up her look, by blow-drying her hair into a loose wave and applying minimal makeup, she grabbed her purse and went to meet Jake.

She saw Jake sitting in the patio area of the hotel, sipping on some coffee. Sitting across from him, he shot her a pleasant smile. "You clean up nicely."

"Thank you," she said as she noticed a coffee mug sitting in front of her already. Giving the cup a questioning look, Jake interrupted her thoughts, "One cream, two sugars, just how you like it."

"Nice to see you're sucking up after the rude awakening earlier," she retorted, casually sipping her coffee and looking over her mug at him. Shortly after she sat down at the table, a server came over to grab their orders. When the server came back, she placed a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast in front of Jake and a rather large stack of strawberry pancakes in front of Anna.

"I'm glad to see that you aren't nervous about the hearing," Jake said just as Anna shoved a huge forkful of her pancakes into her mouth. Struggling to hurry and swallow before answering, she swallowed with a painful gulp, taking a swig of coffee to wash it down.

"Why would I be nervous?"

"Um, because they're trying to take the Iron Man suit from your dad, the suit you helped him build. Also, they do know about your skates. Although they may not know how fully functioning they are nor the part that you played the night Obadiah attacked your dad, it doesn't mean they won't be coming for those next."

Finishing another bite of pancake, she shook her fork at Jake, "You wanna know why I'm not worried? Because this is the Senate we're talking about. When was the last time they were able to make a lasting, good, substantial decision on anything? And for as long as I can remember, my family has been able to wrap that Armed Forces committee around their finger. Now, we have the public on our side too. So, no, I'm not worried. I guarantee that by the end of this hearing, my dad and I will be off scotch free and Stern, the whiny ass, will be wishing he just kept his nasty thoughts to himself."

* * *

Anna and her father sat in front of the Senate Armed Forces committee for about fifteen minutes and already it was a shitshow. Not that Anna hadn't seen that coming. Tony was completely blowing off Senator Stern, who tried desperately to keep order and regain the attention and the man-child billionaire. Anna was not much help in that department. Her father's attitude had rubbed off on her lately, as the two became close and spent more time with each other. The younger Stark had already deemed the hearing a complete waste of time, knowing that there was no way she or her father would ever let the government control something as powerful and personal as the Iron Man suit.

Tony was distracted again, by Pepper this time, as Senator Stern called out to him, "Can I have your attention?"

Tony quickly spun around after one last glare from Pepper, "Absolutely."

"Do you, or do you not, possess a specialized weapon?"

"We do not," Tony answered on behalf of he and his daughter. "Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon."

"The Iron Man weapon," the Senator deadpanned.

"Our device does not fit that description."

"Well… how would you describe it?

"Let's cut to the chase Senator because this conversation seems to be going in circles. The Iron Man suit is not a weapon if anything it is… a high-tech prosthesis. My father and the suit are one. Am I not correct?" Anna stated, looking to her father for his own input.

"That is… That's actually the most apt description that I could have made for it. Well done, Prodigy." Anna smirked at the nickname he had started to refer to her as. It is not like he was the first one to come up with it, the tabloids have been referring to her as Tony's prodigy daughter for years. It was just recently that Anna finally started to embrace it instead of pretending that she would not constantly be linked to Tony.

Stern was not impressed by their answers, "It's a weapon. It's a weapon, Mr. and Miss Stark." Anna huffed. The man acted like he was an expert in the field, meanwhile two actual experts were sitting in front of him and he was getting his rocks off thinking he was better than the both of them. Anna hated politicians.

Tony seemed to be getting just as fed up with the bullshit as well, "Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen…"

Stern cut him off, "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

"Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. As my daughter so eloquently told you before, the suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in" Tony finished getting a chuckle from the crowd.

"Regardless of how you want to see it, as we've stated multiple times now Senator, you can't have it," Anna retorted, before glancing back at Jake and rolling her eyes. He mouthed to her, _stay calm_ , hoping to get her to keep the grumpy snaps to a minimum on Capitol Hill. She blamed her hangover.

"Look, I'm no expert…" Senator Stern started.

"In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator. Come on." Even Anna had a hard time keeping her laughter quiet with that zinger from her father, although Pepper didn't agree.

"I'm no expert in weapons," Stern started, causing Anna to lean towards her father and whisper, "No shit Sherlock." Stern continued, "We have somebody here who is an expert of weapons." Eliciting another comment of "Yeah, we've been sitting in front of him this whole time," from Anna. Tony cracked a smile at his daughter's commentary that quickly fell when Senator Stern introduced Justin Hammer, the current primary weapons contractor of the U.S. government after Stark Industries stopped producing weapons.

Anna did not hold back her groan. Honestly, after her graduation, she hoped she would never have to come in contact with the man again. He was just one of those people who rubbed her the wrong way. Glancing back at her best friend, she could tell Hammer had the same effect on him as well.

Tony was quick to microphone though, "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."

Hammer brushed off the jab with a fake smile, "Absolutely. I'm no expert. That's why they asked me to speak at the MIT commencement. For your daughter's graduating class, too I might add."

Anna unable to bite her tongue reached for the microphone, "If you're referring to the commencement speech that my father was unable to attend due to fighting for his life in Afghanistan, I wouldn't toot your own horn too much. If you have a similar testimony prepared for today, then I suggest we call it a night. Much rather fall asleep in a comfortable bed than at this desk, seeing as that is the only thing I wish to do whenever you open your mouth." The courtroom hushed and Anna's scathing comment; Pepper gave her a scolding look, Jake and her father giving her an amused yet proud look, as Hammer stuttered to continue on with his testimony, desperately trying to ignore the glare of the younger Stark.

Looking back to Tony and addressing his comments, Hammer continued, "You're right, I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony. You're the wonder boy. Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad and grandpa. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, Anna, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr. and Miss Stark will now always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America." An awkward slow clap started in the courtroom before ending just as quickly. Tony and Anna shared an eye roll at the audacity of this guy. Tony may not have had to best relationship with his dad, and Anna may not have known him at all, but that did not give Hammer the right to taunt the Starks with Howard's name.

"That is well said Mr. Hammer," Stern said. Of course, he would believe so, Anna thought, it wasn't like Hammer stated anything of actual substance in his rant. "The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber."

"Rhodey? What?" her dad questioned, sitting up straighter before rising from his seat to greet his friend, Anna following closely behind. The three exchanged handshakes, although Anna much would've preferred to give the man, who she thought of like an uncle, a hug. Although, she supposed in the current situation that would be inappropriate. "Hey, buddy, I didn't expect to see you here."

Rhodey sighed and waved him off, approaching the desk, "Look, it's me, I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on."

"I just…" Tony tried.

"Drop it," Rhodey said finally, taking a seat.

"All right, I'll drop it." The two Starks sat on either side of the Air Force Lieutenant Colonel as Senator Stern continued the hearing.

"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, compiled by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?"

"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" Rhodey asked. Anna saw right through the Senator, trying to get Rhodey to read the most incriminating and suspect passages from his report to make the Starks look bad.

"Yes, sir," the Senator agreed.

"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner."

Stern seemed to get more anxious, wanting to get to the passage he had specifically picked out for Rhodey to read, "I understand. A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read…"

Rhodey cut him off and Anna could tell, he thought Senator Stern to be just as squirrelly as she believed too, "You understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my final…"

"Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you." Anna rolled her eyes, yet again, as Rhodey began.

"Very well. 'As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests.' I did, however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities and that it would be in our interest…"

"That's enough Colonel," Stern said, attempting to cut him off but Rhode kept talking.

"… to fold Mr. Stark…"

"That's enough."

"… into the existing chain of command, Senator."

Tony leaned forward at that moment to add in his two cents, "I'm not much of a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defense, if you ask nice." The crowd laughed at the comment as did Anna. "We can amend the hours a little bit."

"Honestly, Senator," Anna spoke up, "You really expect a single sentence from Colonel Rhodes' extensive report to be enough to convince not just the committee but the entire public that the Iron Man is not a force for good. Before your many attempts to silence and censor Colonel Rhodes, he, himself, stated that further in his report he deemed the benefits of the suit to be worth it, and here you are trying to twist words and further spin this in your favor."

"That's enough Miss Stark. I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report, Colonel Rhodes."

Rhodey tried to advise against this, "I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time."

"With all due respect, Colonel, I understand." Anna mumbled a 'Do you?' under her breath as the Senator continued speaking. "And if you could narrate those for us, we'd be grateful. Let's have the images."

Aerial view images appear on the screens displayed in the courtroom as Rhodey explained them. "Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Stark's suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground…" Anna and Tony both have devices out, communicating with each other about commandeering the screens for their own images. Succeeding in finding the videos they were looking for, Anna sends them to her father as Rhodey wraps up, "indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational."

"Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here," Tony interrupts Rhodey before connecting his device to the monitors. "Boy, I'm good. I commandeered your screens. I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on." The courtroom chatter grew louder and even Senator Stern was panicking at how to handle this situation. "If you will direct your attention to said screen, I believe that's North Korea." A video of mock suit falls over and the guns start shooting on their own; years, possibly a decade, away from working the way Tony's does.

To the side, Justin Hammer tries frantically to disconnect the screens at Senator Stern's orders.

"Iran," Tony continued. The suit flew… for a moment, before crashing back to the ground in a ball of smoke and fire. "No grave threat there." The image changed again. "Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?" The video shows Justin Hammer coaching his man on how to use the suit only for it to go very wrong as the suit twist too much, very likely causing damage to the soldier inside. "Justin, you're on TV. Focus up."

Anna turned to Jake, shaking her head at the supposed expert, "Just Justin Hammer putting more people to sleep, possibly permanently."

Jake scoffed in agreement, wondering how Justin managed to get this far in life without a lawsuit that would shut him down if this were how he conducted business.

"Wow. Yeah, I'd say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries… well, what do you think Prodigy? Tony asked his daughter.

"Twenty?" she replied lazily with a shrug.

"Yeah, twenty sounds about right."

Justin, who had finally got the TV screens unplugged, jumped forward and interjected, "I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived."

"Thank god," Anna and Jake said in harmony.

Stern finally realizing how far south this hearing had gone, tried to pick up the pieces, "I think we're done is the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reason…"

Tony looked Senator Stern right in the eyes, "The point is, you're welcome, I guess."

"For what?" the Senator tried to argue.

"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want our property? You can't have it. But, I did you a big favor." Standing up to face the crowd, pulling Anna up with him, he exclaimed to the crowd, "I've successfully privatized world peace." Shooting the crowd peace signs as he made his way through, Anna trailing behind with her own peace sign. The crowd was up and talking all at once, clapping for the Starks. Happy and Jake to joined Tony and Anna helping make a path for them get out of the room, Pepper and Rhodey remaining behind.

Before leaving the courtroom, Tony turned back to the Senate committee, "What more do you want? For now! We tried to play ball with these ass-clowns."

"Fuck you, Mr. Stark. Fuck you, buddy. We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today," Stern called out.

"Real classy Senator!" Anna called out behind her.

The Starks put on their sunglasses as they left the building, Tony continuing to speak, "My bond is with the people. And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven, it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself." Anna's face scrunched in disgust as she heard Jake choke on a laugh behind her. She threw an elbow back at him, but he stopped it before she could hit him.

"Gross," Anna remarked.

"Oh, come on. It was funny," Jake said, not hiding a smile.

Meanwhile, Pepper and Rhodey shared a look still in the courtroom. Lately, Tony seemed to be taking things less and less seriously. And now, with his newly patched-up relationship with Anna, she seemed to be following her father's lead. With the way things were going, they were soon going to have two egocentric Starks to deal with, and neither seemed ready nor willing to do that.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! Sorry, it's been so long. And sorry for the shorter chapter. I had a lot of family troubles over the past few months. My cat died back in January and my grandma, who I was very close to, passed away relatively suddenly in March, so I've been struggling to find inspiration. Anyway, I have decided that this book will span through Iron Man 2 and up until the start of the Avengers, then I will start a new book. I plan on having some other Avengers-related stories coming out so they will have their own separate books, and then the characters from each will come together in the Avengers book.**

 **Speaking of Avengers, I saw Infinity War and it was awesome yet simultaneous ripped my heart out, although I remain optimistic about how things will turn out. If anyone wants to talk about it, feel free to PM me. Please don't comment on it to keep people from getting it spoiled.**

 **Anyway, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. I have some pressing schoolwork for my Master's that I need to finish but hopefully, it'll be up soon. I am honestly surprised I got this one out when I did because I just got my wisdom teeth pulled and I honestly just want to sleep all day.**

 **But, THANK YOU to everyone who reviews, follows, and favorites my stories! You keep me going!**


	8. Chapter 7

After the hearing, Anna and Jake drove back to New York to leave her car at a townhome the younger Stark had before flying back to California. They arrived at LAX later the same night, Jake going home to his apartment and Anna going home alone. Her father and Pepper wouldn't be back in Malibu until the next day and so Anna had the mansion to herself. Trying to counter the jetlag though, she went straight to bed, hoping to distress at the beach early the next day.

She did just that.

At eight in the morning, JARVIS woke her and she began to get ready for the day. Sending a quick text message to her dad, asking when his flight in was, she stood and stretched her muscles from his stressful sleep. Walking to her bathroom, she looked in the mirror and almost recoiled from the bird's nest she called her hair. "Ugh," she groaned, noticing a breakout right between her eyebrows. Damn politics always stressed her out and now it was causing her to break out. Brushing her hair and teeth, as well as washing her face, she ventured down to the kitchen to grab something to eat quickly.

"Miss Stark, your father has indicated he should arrive home by midafternoon," JARVIS said to her as she was pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

"Thank you JARVIS," she replied. Now she would have the perfect amount of alone time. She went upstairs and changed, bathing suit on under her t-shirt and shorts. Making her way to the workshop, she went to her area where she stored some of her recreational gear: regular roller blades, baseball bat, and her surfboard. She was no professional when it came to surfing, but it was an activity she had picked up over the years. Growing up a child genius was lonely and boring at times, especially when you're a Stark. Not going to public school, Anna didn't have many friends, if any at all come to think of it. Because of that, she had a lot of free time to learn more things. While other ten-year-olds were having play dates and enjoying childhood, Anna was learning calculus and finding ways to fill the lonely void when her father was doing his own thing.

Grabbing her surf gear, she walked to her Jeep, which was far away from any of her father's precious sports cars, and loaded it up. Leaving the workshop, Anna drove down the highway a little way before pulling into a semi-private beach. Still early, she recognized a couple other surfers on the beach and in the water from previous excursions. Anna walked out to a secluded area, tossing her bag on the ground where she could keep an eye on it. Pulling out her rash guard, she shed her t-shirt and shorts and pulled it on over her bathing suit. Quickly braiding her hair so it stayed out of her face, she prepped her board before going out. Another surfer a few feet away waved when he saw her arrive. She couldn't remember his name but recognized his warm smile and wavy brown locks that went past his ears. Waving back, she headed to the water.

Catching a couple good swells, she paddled out to a calm area and just soaked in the sea breeze. She could taste the salt in the air and feel the warm sun on her cheeks. Glancing at her waterproof Stark tech watch, she realized it had gotten later than she had planned to stay out. She still wanted to be home by the time her dad arrived. However, she didn't want to leave. Sitting here on her surfboard was one of the places she was happiest, the most at peace.

Ultimately, though, she headed back in, shedding her rash guard and toweling off before redressing. She packed her gear back up and headed back to the mansion, waving goodbye to the remaining people at the beach. Pulling into the workshop, she put away her things. Anna's stomach growled loudly, signaling it was time for lunch. Ordering some Chinese food, she pulled the braid in her hair loose, letting the dark brunette waves tumble around her shoulders. She loved the way they held the waves after being in the ocean, the saltwater curling it so slightly. Unfortunately, the lovely waves had to go because as much as she loved the ocean, she hated the way the salt water dried her skin. Taking the fastest shower ever, she was changed and comfortable just as her food arrived.

"Miss Stark, your delivery is here," JARVIS alerted her.

"Thanks, JARVIS!" she called back. She opened the door and paid for her food. Opening the bag and pulling out her chicken lo mein, she plopped herself on the sofa and turned the television on.

"Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark, and his daughter Anna Stark, met with the Armed Services Committee yesterday in regards to the Iron Man suit the two created that was involved in the incident at Stark Industries last year. After some surprising footage of other attempts to recreate the suit—," the news reporter stated before Anna changed the channel.

"Nope!" she said as the channel changed to another news station covering the same thing, and another, and another. "They give us way more coverage than we're worth. Twenty-four-hour news coverage," the young Stark grumbled, shoving a forkful of noodles ungracefully into her mouth. Finally, she was able to find a channel playing Golden Girls reruns, something she could actually enjoy. Another hour or so passed when the door opened.

"Honey, I'm home!" her father's eccentric, loud voice called from the front door's threshold. Anna glanced over from her perch on the couch, now snacking on some Oreo's she managed to find stashed away.

"'Sup," she said, breaking the cookie apart to eat the cream center.

Tony walked over to her, before pointing at her accusingly. "Are those my Oreos?"

Eyes wide, she hesitated before uttering an unconvincing, "No…"

The older Stark rolled his eyes before, sitting next to her and turning off the TV. Dorothy and Blanche disappeared in a blink and Anna turned to her dad, perturbed that he turned off her entertainment. "Hey!"

"What? I want to talk to you about something. Is it so wrong I want your full attention?"

"You have plenty of attention already if you get anymore your head may explode," she teased.

"Haha," Tony deadpanned. "Seriously though, I want your opinion on something before Pepper gets here. I've been thinking about it the whole flight back." At Pepper's name, Anna perked up. Her thoughts going a hundred different directions.

"What about Pepper?"

"I wanted your opinion on making her CEO," he said. Rising to his feet, he started to pace slightly. It was not something he often did. Yes, he was hyperactive at times, but he never was one for signs of nervousness. "I know it's always been said that after me, you would be the one to become CEO, but I am not CEO material. I never was actually. I was thrust into the position after your grandparents died."

"Well, yeah, but lately you've been getting better at it. What brought all this on?" Anna asked.

Tony sighed, "Look Prodigy, I know you're optimistic about the whole palladium issue, but we need a plan B." Anna tensed at the mention of the palladium that was slowly killing her dad. She didn't want to admit that he was right but he was.

"Fine. But, don't give up just yet. I'm still working on a solution and so should you!"

"I am, trust me, kid. Because of you, I could never give up," he said, causing Anna to smile softly at the odd sentiment from the older Stark. "Plus, it's not really my style."

"Our style, it's not our style. Another thing I got from you, it's called being stubborn."

Tony scoffed, but it sounded more like a laugh. "Anyway, back to my plan B. I know you don't want the CEO responsibility right now. You're eighteen, fresh outta school. The last thing you should be worrying about is running a company. Hell, even I got to put a few miles on my soul first with your mom." A sad smile crept onto Tony's face at the mention of Sofia. Anna was used to that reaction from him. She understood that it hurt to talk about her, even after all these years, but she still wished he would. Even though she died less than a year after Anna was born, the young Stark still felt that her mother shouldn't be a stranger to her.

"I get it, dad. I do. And I agree, I'm not ready for that responsibility right now, nor do I _want_ it. I think Pepper is a perfect fit. She's practically been doing the job anyway," the prodigy remarked, a mischievous glint in her eyes at the dig towards her dad.

"So it's settled, I'll let her know when she gets here. Don't worry, I'll make sure if you ever feel up to it, you'll be able to take over one day. Thanks, Prodigy!" he called, heading down to the workshop before Anna could get another word in.

Shaking her head at him, she turned the television back on only to realize that her Golden Girls marathon was over and now there were paid programming adds on. "Dammit," she mumbled, channel surfing yet again.

Not long after, Pepper arrived at the Malibu mansion. She was already in a bit of a huff, Anna noticed. With her electronic tablet clutched in her hands, the redhead looked over to the younger Stark, whose eyes were back on the television screen in front of her, trying not to be dragged into whatever issue was causing Pepper stress this time.

"Where is your father?" Pepper asked, sounding exasperated. Anna's innocent eyes glanced towards, hopefully, the future CEO of Stark Industries.

"In the workshop, as usual." The older woman took a deep breath and headed down the stairs. Anna channel surfed for fifteen minutes or so before deciding to venture down to the workshop as well and hope that whatever her father had done this time was fixed and it was safe to be in the same room as the two of them.

Reaching the workshop, Anna sees Tony and Pepper toasting the new promotion. Snapping the two out of their toast, Anna spoke up, "Congratulations, Ms. CEO." Pepper stood, setting her glass on the nearest stable surface and got up to give Anna a crushing hug that the younger Stark returned.

"Tony said you were okay with this. You are, right?" Pepper asked, pulling back to look the younger girl in her green-hazel eyes. "Because if you're not, the position is rightfully yours."

"Pepper, I do not want to run a multibillion-dollar company right now. I'll start off small first, like maybe a multimillion-dollar company," Anna responded with a laugh. "I'm happy for you!"

"Thank you," Pepper said pulling her in for another hug.

* * *

After Tony broke the news to her and gave her the CEO position, the three went out to dinner to celebrate. The days after went by relatively normal, Anna would do her own thing, hanging out with Jake and tinkering amongst other things, while Tony continued to upgrade the suits and helped Pepper write up a promotion contract. As her father promised, there was a clause in the contract about Anna taking over the company when she was prepared to.

One thing out of the ordinary, however, was when Tony invited Rhodey over to try out the Mark II suit. When Tony first told Anna, she was shocked. Tony was the only one who had ever donned the Iron Man suit, and Anna assumed that would stay that way. Rhodey getting a chance to test out the Mark II armor was a huge accomplishment in regards to her father's trust, even if Rhodey was already deemed deeply trustworthy as his best friend.

Over a week after Pepper's promotion, Pepper had organized a notary to come and help finalize the contract and validate the signatures. The redhead woman arrived at the gym where Tony, Anna, Happy, and Jake were boxing. Tony and Happy were currently in the ring while Anna and Jake sat on a bench and rehydrated before getting back in the ring.

"The notary's here! Can you please sign the transfer paperwork?" Pepper asks.

The two men in the ring continue to box. "I'm on Happy time," the older Stark answer. A few more swings were exchanged before Tony threw an elbow, hitting Happy in the face.

"Ooh," Anna and Jake cringed from the side.

"What the hell was that?" Happy exclaimed, looking stunned by the hit.

"It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for… three weeks." Anna chuckled to herself, while Jake scoffed.

"It's called dirty boxing, there's nothing new about it," Happy complained.

Jake added his thoughts to the mix, "Yeah, I thought we were boxing, no illegal hits."

"Alright, put them up. Come on," Tony gave in.

Just then, a beautiful woman with dark red hair walked into the room, tablet in hand. She walked over to Pepper just as the older woman said, "I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." All heads turned towards the new person in the room.

"Damn," Jake muttered under his breath at the attractive woman.

Anna turned towards him, eyes narrowed as she paused for a moment before a sly smirk graced her features, "Y'know, maybe she like dogs?"

"Why would that matter? I don't have a dog."

"No, but you're drooling like one."

Jake finally pulled his eyes away, scoffed, and nudged Anna roughly, trying to unseat her from the bench. Anna laughed at his failed attempts and shoved him back, only to set him off balance causing her to laugh louder.

The two friends turned their attention back to the ring when Happy lightly punched Tony on the back of the head. "Illegal," Anna coughed.

Happy ignored her, "Lesson one. Never take your eye off—," he doesn't get to finish as Tony threw a kick at him causing Happy to crash into the corner of the ring.

"Well, I guess we're not boxing anymore," Jake grumbled, making Anna smile.

Tony turned his attention to the new redhead notary. "What's your name lady?"

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman," she responded quickly.

Tony waved her to the ring, "Front and center. Come into the church." Pepper tried to dissuade Tony from bringing Natalie into the boxing ring, but Natalie assured her that it's fine. Natalie and Tony stood face to face for a moment before Tony brought his water bottle up to take a drink. He turned to Happy, "Can you give her a lesson?"

"No problem."

Tony exited the ring and plopped down next to Pepper. Anna remained in her spot next to Jake as she watched the supposed "lesson" take place. Happy stepped up to Natalie, where Tony was once standing, "You ever boxed before?"

"I have, yes," Natalie responded.

"What, like, Tae Bo? Booty Boot Camp? Crunch? Something like that?" Anna noticed the look of annoyance cross Natalie's face at Happy's comments, but the redhead stayed silent.

"Excuse you Happy! You don't know her. Have I ever done Booty Boot Camp? No! And I can box! I bet _she_ could kick your ass!" At Happy's smug expression, Anna glared at him as Natalie shot her a small appreciative smile before Tony distracted her with a question. After answering the question, Natalie's attention remains on Pepper and Tony.

Happy's smug look remained as he noticed Natalie's distraction, "Rule number one, never take your eyes off your opponent." When he goes to hit her, Natalie grabs his wrist and twists it, before flipping herself around to the side to lock her legs around his head and flip him to the ground. Anna and Jake jumped up in awe at first, before whooping out some cheers.

Anna turned to Jake, overhearing Pepper and Tony's own remarks, and said, "I really wish I would've made that bet real now. I could be twenty dollars richer."

Jake looked at her with an amused smile, "Anna, you're a billionaire. You don't need twenty dollars."

With a matching smile, Anna replied, "No. My father is a billionaire. I'm just his eighteen-year-old daughter that shamelessly mooches off of him."

Jake laughed at her comment, "I just wish I got that on video."

"Don't worry," Anna started, "There are security cameras everywhere, so JARVIS has you covered on that front."

"Awesome," the older boy said.

Anna looked back at the rest of the group; Happy recovered and Tony finalized the paperwork with Natalie. Before Natalie left, Anna called out to her, "You gotta teach me how to do that one day!"

Natalie gave her a shy smile, "Alright, we'll make plans."

A large grin spread across Anna's face, "I'm holding you to it."

* * *

Later that same day, Anna approached Tony in the workshop.

"I want your help upgrading my suit," she told him. Anna was not asking, she was telling him that she needed help and he was going to help her.

"And why do you need my help to upgrade your suit, I thought you were a genius, Prodigy," he snarked.

Anna sighed and sat on the wheeled chair across from him. Spinning the chair around in a circle, Anna decided just to come out with it. "Well, my suit is fast, but it's not an armor. I want to make it more like the Iron Man suit. Nothing that involves flying, because I'm still not a fan of heights. I may be able to ride in a plane and go on a rollercoaster, but I remember your first test flights, and free falling is not something I want to experience. Even if the likelihood of that happening is slim. Anyways… I want to make a suit structure out of the gold-titanium alloy, like your suit. And, since I have virtually no defense system, aside from skating up to people and pushing them, I'd like your help brainstorming on that and the overall design."

Tony purposely waited a minute before answering, letting Anna think she was not going to be able to have some help, "Sure, Prodigy." The reason Anna didn't just ask for repulsors or an arc reactor from her dad was that she still wanted her suit to stand-alone, not just become another Iron Man suit, or Iron Woman suit in this case. "We'll come up with something for you."

It wasn't as if Anna couldn't design the armor herself, either. She just wanted to take the opportunity to spend some time with her dad who seemed to be always moving a hundred miles per hour with the Stark Expo, Pepper's promotion, and his palladium issue. Speaking of which…

"How are your palladium levels?" she asked as they programmed the measurements for Anna's suit into the computers so JARVIS could begin rendering the pieces. Tony hesitated a second or two, which Anna didn't notice, being too wrapped up in her task.

"They're the same," Tony lied. "I haven't used the suit since the Expo opening and nothing in the levels have changed."

Anna sighed in relief and shot her father a sincere smile. "I'm glad to hear. That means as long as you don't wear the suit, we can have more time to find a suitable palladium replacement and get you back in good shape. I'll start looking into it more when we get back from Monaco."

Anna turned back to the holographic monitor to enter in the measurements, while Tony looked down in slight shame from his lie. Anna never gave up on him. When he was a prisoner in Afghanistan, she never gave up hope that he would return home. And now, the same equipment that was supposed to be keeping him alive was poisoning him, and she remained optimistic about a solution. Tony was having trouble maintaining that same optimism, and he didn't want her's to waver either. It was why he kept the rising palladium levels to himself. He and JARVIS had already run through every known element on the periodic table with no success. Another thing he had yet to tell Anna. As much as he tried to keep himself going for Anna, his hopes were diminishing with each blood test.

A few hours later, JARVIS was rendering a new suit together for Anna. The helmet kept the style of a motorcycle helmet and the structure of the rest of the suit was slimmer, with a focus on aerodynamics, more so than the bulkier Iron Man suit. It was just a prototype suit, merely for protection at this point until they could brainstorm more for what defenses and offenses she wanted to add. Until Anna decided on those, the suit remained a matte black color.

One option Anna agreed to add that her father suggested was the ability to collapse into a case that appeared like a backpack. Tony's newest Iron Man suit collapsed into a briefcase design that they called the Football, after the nuclear Football that can be used to authorize a nuclear strike. Leave it to someone who used to run a weapons manufacturing company with a contract with the United States government to name their suit that.

By the next morning, the suit was completed and Anna was able to test it out on the long winding Malibu highways, careful not to create a traffic disturbance. The skates were the only thing that couldn't be rendered out of the gold-titanium alloy, as it wasn't magnetic, so they stayed their original material, an alloy consisting of neodymium, iron, and boron.

The backpack that held her new suit was perfectly transportable, and the two Starks agreed to take it with them when they went to Monaco a couple of days later. Tony was excited about his "vacation" as he called it. Owning the car that was racing in the Historic Grand Prix, the Starks felt it was only right that they make an appearance. However, Tony, with his minor obsession with cars, was looking forward to it more than Anna. If Anna had any say, she wouldn't even show up to the race and just go off to do her own thing with Jake. Unfortunately, Tony and Pepper wanted her there to help show support for Pepper after the first public outing since her promotion. The news outlets were already saying some nasty things, many even starting rumors that Pepper convinced her father to give her the company over his own daughter. The world could be a cruel place.

* * *

The next day, Anna was at Jake's apartment helping him pack for the Monaco trip. He was complaining about his unsuccessful attempts at asking Natalie Rushman out, making Anna laugh. Anna tried to advise him to back off or she may take him down as she did to Happy. That didn't deter him. If anything, it made him want to get to know her more. Anna considered him hopeless but didn't say anything.

Luckily, Jake chose that time to change the subject.

"What are you bringing? I have no idea what to pack. Am I over packing for this trip? It's just the weekend, right?" Jake rambled as he maneuvered around his bedroom.

Anna sat up from where she was laying on his bed, propping herself up on her elbows and fiddling with the hem of her Guns N' Roses tank top. Shrugging, she answered, "Yeah, just the weekend. I packed three outfits and my dress for the Grand Prix, in addition to the essentials such as pajamas and underwear. Figured I'll dress comfortably for the rest of the weekend. I just have a carryon suitcase and a garment bag."

"Okay, okay," he mumbled to himself, throwing some shirts and pants into a small suitcase and putting the rest back into his dresser and closet. "Now I just need to decide on my suit. Help me." Jake looked over at Anna with a helpless look and the girl groaned, plopping back on the bed. "Please," Jake dragged out.

He walked over to her and grabbed her hands pulling her into a standing position and leading her to his closet. "Fine," the Stark girl gave in, "You're so needy."

Pulling a classic black suit out, "Here. You can never go wrong with a black suit." Jake didn't argue, trusting his best friend. Anna went on to pick out a white button-up to go with it—making sure to tell him to button it up all the way—and also pulled out some dress shoes for him to pack. Handing the clothing items over to the hopeless boy, she smirked, "You're welcome."

"Bless you for putting up with me," he replied with a smile.

"Only because you put up with me too. Our friendship is built on our mutual ability to tolerate each other," she laughed.

Jake finished getting his shit together, both for the trip and mentally now that he wasn't stressing out about packing and Natalie Rushman. Afterward, the two friends decided to relax and pig out on junk food while watching movies. Halfway through Zombieland, a movie they frequently watched to the point the two friends could quote it to each other and took Columbus' rules to heart, they paused for a bathroom break and to refill their popcorn bowls. As Jake came back from the bathroom, he sat on the bar stool at the kitchen peninsula, waiting patiently for Anna to get the popcorn from the microwave. The two spent the rest of the night catching up, bouncing tech ideas off each other, and other mindless things until they passed out on Jake's couches, the light from the television still illuminating the room.

The last thought Anna had just as she drifted asleep was that she did not have a good feeling about the upcoming weekend.

* * *

 **Shorter chapter, but it's a filler so I didn't want it to drag on too long. Covers Pepper's promotion and some of Anna's internal dialogue. Also, shows that while Tony and Anna have become closer, and usually do not have secrets from one another, Tony can't bring himself to reveal the whole truth of his palladium issue to his daughter. Next chapter will cover the Historic Grand Prix in Monaco so hopefully, I'll get it out quickly. We'll see Anna's new armored suit in action ;)**

 **ALSO, since I'm hitting the halfway mark of Prodigy, I have started publishing my other story titled Kelda. It's a Bucky Barnes story and will start before Captain America: The First Avenger. It will include the character Kelda from the comics, but she will be an AU version that I thought up. The story will run through the movie and up until the Avengers when it will in a way combine with this story as part of a series. So check it out if you love Bucky like me!**

 **Other stories I have planned in the series include a Peter Parker/OC story, which will come in the future, and a Guardians fic with possibly a Peter Quill/OC and a Gamora/OC.**


	9. Chapter 8

" **Gonna write me up at 125**

 **Post my face wanted dead or alive**

 **Take my license, and all that jive**

 **I can't drive 55"**

 **\- Sammy Hagar, "I Can't Drive 55"**

* * *

Anna, her father, Jake, Pepper and Happy all arrived at the Historic Grand Prix. Tony, Pepper and Happy exited their black Rolls Royce town car while Anna and Jake did the same with their own. Happy followed his boss and friend carrying a red and silver metal suitcase, otherwise known as the Football. Jake did the same with Anna's own case, an egg-shaped, matte black metal suitcase, yet to be named, which now had her improved suit with the updated armor. They entered the Hotel de Paris and were greeted by photographers.

Anna, Tony, and Pepper walked ahead, holding conversation until Tony said, "You know, it's Europe. Whatever happens in the next twenty minutes, just go with it."

The comment caught Pepper off guard for a moment, "Go with it? Go with what?"

Suddenly Natalie approached the group, something Anna thought was at first unexpected until she realized that she really should of expected it. Tony had an interest in Natalie since the day he met her, it made sense for him to hire her as his personal assistant now that Pepper was CEO.

"Mr. Stark?" Natalie greeted with an inquiring tone.

"Hey," Tony answered as Pepper stood next to him looking a little taken aback. Anna watched the exchange hesitantly, wondering what Pepper was going to do when she snapped out of her shock.

"Hello, how was your flight?" Natalie asked.

"It was excellent. Boy, it's nice to see you," Tony replied, catching Pepper's astonished look as he and the older redhead grabbed a glass off the tray offered to them.

"We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind. Okay?" Tony agreed and a photographer was waved over to the group. As the photographer approached the group, Pepper turned to Tony.

"When did this happen?" she asked through a smile, referring to Natalie's reassignment.

"What? You made me do it?" Tony argued back, also through a smile while the photographer readied himself. Anna shook her head, her own grin on her face despite the argument taking place.

"What did she make you do exactly?" Anna questioned, inserting herself into the tiff, smile still on her face. "Hire the next hot girl who entered the room to be your errand girl, who does things you could do yourself."

"The two of you quit. Smile. Look, right there. Stop acting constipated. Don't flare your nostrils," Tony rambled through his grin just as the photographer took the picture.

"You are so predictable," Pepper resigned as she walked away, Tony continuing forward with Natalie.

Anna took Jake off to get a drink, thankful that she could legally drink in Monaco.

"Having fun yet?" Jake asked as he leaned against the bar. Anna rolled her eyes.

"If only. We haven't even been here three minutes and my dad already threw a curve ball at me, and he and Pepper have already had an argument. I have great expectations for today."

Jake shrugged as they waited for a bartender to spot them so that he could flag them down, "Well, at least you have me."

"True. Sometimes it's like you're the only one to keep me sane," she replied with a chuckle.

The pair of friends were interrupted just as Anna recognizes not only Justin Hammer a couple feet away but also Christine Everhart, her father's former one-night stand.

"It's like Satan sent this duo just to screw with me," Anna said referring to the two who looked as if they were conducting an interview of sorts.

"Well, I see Justin Hammer, aka the bane of every Stark's existence, but who's the blonde?" Jake asked.

Anna sighed, looking over her shoulder to check if the two had noticed her, "She's a journalist for Vanity Fair magazine. Christine Everhart. She's also the one who sprung the news to my dad that Stark Industries had been double-dealing when Obadiah was trying to take over the company. And, she also slept with my dad."

Jake looked at the young Stark sitting on the bar stool in front of him, "Oh. Alright then, yeah let's just avoid them at all costs."

"Yeah, let's."

Just then Tony and Pepper rejoined them at the bar, still going back and forth about the Natalie issue. "Green is not your best color," Tony commented about the redhead's attitude. Anna rolled her eyes. Not the best thing to say, she thought.

"Oh, please," Pepper quipped back at him. Unfortunately, with her father's presence drawing more attention to the area, Anna's hopes of not encountering Justin Hammer were shot.

"Anthony. Is that you?" Hammer said, approaching the group.

"My least favorite person on Earth," Tony said to his daughter, Jake, and Pepper. Anna nodded and made a noise of agreement.

"Hey pal," Hammer greeted. The two men exchanged quips and all Anna could think was, at least Christine Everhart isn't right here, right now to add icing to the stop of this impending horrible conversation.

Wrong.

"You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair. You guys know each other right?" Hammer introduced as the blonde reporter came to stand next to him. Niceties were exchanged, so fake it made Anna want to be sick. Anna shot Jake a looked that screamed: "Get me the hell out of here?!"

Hammer took the opportunity to boost his own ego when Christine congratulated Pepper. "She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair. I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know. Right?" Ass, Anna thought. She may not be Christine's biggest fan but he didn't have to act like he was doing her a favor. Despite sleeping together, after the Iron Man announcement she still wrote a decent piece on Tony. If anything, she was doing him a favor by hopefully sending him some positive PR after the Senate hearing debacle.

Thankfully, Pepper stepped in, also annoyed with Justin Hammer at this point, although she couldn't keep the bite from her tone, "Right. Well, she did quite a spread on Tony last year." Anna knew she was not referring to the article. Apparently, so did Tony.

"And she wrote a story as well," the older Stark added.

"It was very well done," Pepper added. Christine gave a polite thank you, grinning through the annoyance. "I'm gonna go wash," Pepper announced, pulling on Jake's arm and tugging him away from Anna's side effectively, leaving the young Stark and her father alone with the insufferable man and blonde journalist.

"Don't leave me," Tony tried with no success. Anna tried to make a break too, but Tony gripped her wrist and pulled her back to his side. "You get to suffer with me Prodigy," he whispered to her.

Holding back a groan, Anna continued to look for an out and Hammer continued to try to converse with them. All the while, Christine was using this as a perfect opportunity to get more quotes for her article.

"Can I ask you… Is this the first time—" she tried to ask, being interrupted by Hammer and another photographer. Anna and Tony were forced into a picture with the man they loathed, Tony with his sunglasses on and Anna stayed neutral, not even bothering to fake camaraderie out of politeness.

"Say 'Brie,'" Hammer said, while the two Starks ignored him, Tony saying nothing while Anna muttered a 'kill me' under her breath.

Christine continued her question, "…that you guys have seen each other?" Tony makes a snarky comment about the picture before he attempts to wander away, Anna leading the way. "Listen, is it the first time you've seen each other since the Senate?"

"Since he got his contract revoked," Tony started when Hammer jumped in.

"Actually, it's on hold." Anna paused in her escape and turned towards the man behind her and her father.

"Really? Only on hold. Even after you almost killed a man by trying and failing to recreate Iron Man. Hm… that doesn't sound right?" Anna sassed before continuing forward and away.

"Yeah, that's not what I heard. What's the difference between 'hold' and 'canceled'? The truth?" her father added.

Christine kept a professional front, but on the inside, she was loving the back and forth bickering. It would give her a great story. "Yes, what is it?"

The group approached a table and Anna was beginning to think that they would never get rid of the wannabe and the reporter. Her eyes scanned the room desperately searching for Jake, hoping that finding him would give her the perfect escape to leave the present company.

Hammer stuttered a second before answering, "No. The truth is," he paused to try to swat Christine's recorder away, causing Anna to shoot him a small glare, "Why don't we put that away? The truth is, I'm actually hoping to present something at your Expo."

Getting one last jab in, Tony turned to Hammer, "Well, if you invent something that works, I'll make sure I get you a slot." In Anna's mind, she hoped that was never. But, she knew her father's comment, which was a lot nicer than what she would've said, was a save face technique. The Expo was about bringing in the future by presenting the newest innovations in the world. Hammer was still world renowned, as much as she hated to admit it, and by denying him a slot completely would not look good for Tony.

At that moment, Natalie approached the table and before she even had a chance to say anything, Anna took her out and made a break for it. Wandering around the room, she found Jake and Pepper conversing by the door.

"Where's my backpack?" Anna asked, not seeing the hard shell metal bag with her best friend.

"I dropped it off at coat check," he replied nonchalantly.

Anna's eyes widened, practically sputtering at what he just said, "You left a priceless high tech suit with coat check?!"

Jake grabbed her by the shoulders in an attempt to calm her down, "Relax, it's hidden in plain sight. Everyone thinks it's just a backpack and no one even knows you have a suit." Anna took a deep breath, running her hand through her hair, trying not to mess it up too much.

"Fine. Whatever. I just never got my drink earlier and I really need a drink after that," she motioned to the table Hammer and Christine were still at, "whole situation over there. A particularly strong drink in fact." The duo walked to the bar while Pepper went to sit at the table as the race was about to begin.

Finishing her second vodka martini while Jake nursed his whiskey, Anna's attention was drawn to the TV as she heard a familiar voice. Tony was on the TV, wearing a black and blue Stark Industries racing suit, similar to the one Anna wore for her skating suit.

"Oh God," Jake muttered but Anna was barely phased. It was just her dad. Doing something he probably shouldn't do, but was going to anyway. The guy dressed up in a metal suit and fought terrorists for God's sake. She figured he could handle a car race. Of course, that could also just be the alcohol talking. Jake turned to the younger Stark, a little thrown by her non-reaction. "Should we do something?"

She turned towards him, blindly setting the empty glass back on the bar. "Like what? He's already in the car. I'm sure he'll be fine." She was a little concerned about why he decided on this so quickly but assumed he was just pent up and frustrated from the Hammer conversation earlier and wanted to show off.

The two friends watched the race intently for a few minutes, keeping track of where exactly Tony was and how he was doing. He was doing surprisingly well. Suddenly, the camera moved ahead where a man from the pit crew began to walk into the middle of the track. Anna's could feel herself becoming more alert, adrenaline beginning to pump and the effects of the alcohol wearing off as she began to sober quickly. She had a very bad feeling about this.

Turning to Jake, she tugged on his hand pulling his attention from the screen, "I need the coat check slip, now." He hurriedly fished it out of his suit jacket pocket and handed it to her.

"What's—" he tried to start but Anna cut him off and continued.

"Something's wrong, tell Happy to get the Football and be ready." Before Jake could ask any more, she was already gone, rushing towards the coat check all the while keeping an eye on the TV's. The man in the orange pit crew uniform suddenly pulled out two long, electric whips and began swinging.

Anna ran to coat check all but throwing the receipt at the attendant. He handed her bag to her and she's off again. Running into a nearby closet, not even attempting to make it to the bathroom, the younger Stark shed her dress, leaving her in just a bra and pair of black shorts she had worn underneath. She donned her suit in record time, boots clamping around her feet and skates magnetically attached to her back until she got outside. Locking the helmet on, she darted from the closet and raced to the track. Once on the road, she attached her skates and rushed to the scene.

Weaving between workers and cars, by the time she got to the scene, the Stark racecar is already destroyed and the mystery man is approaching her father. Not about to let him attack her dad when he's vulnerable and out of the suit, she knew she had to do something fast. She was really regretting not implementing some repulsors or other offense into her prototype suit. Doing the only thing she could, she built up as much speed as possible and charged at the unknown man. Running into him at full force, the man was violently knocked to the ground and Anna tumbled down too, glad for the extra protection of the gold-titanium alloy. She was quickly able to get up while the man also pulled himself back to his feet.

"Listen dude, it's time to put the whips away. A globally broadcasted TV program is no place for your BDSM fetish, okay?" Anna quipped, her voice coming through the comms in her helmet. The man ignored her, instead, he swung an electric whip at her again. Luckily, she was able to see the move coming and skated out of the way. "If you want to catch me, you're gonna have to try a lot harder than that!" She glanced behind the man and was able to see her father stir as he came to, recovering from the crash. The unknown man attempted to swing at her a few more times, but she dodged each time, throwing the occasional car part at him. He was getting frustrated with every failed attempt.

Unfortunately, Anna's luck didn't last much longer. She believed she was effectively wearing him out until Tony got the Football. But, as she moved to dodge, she tripped up. The man swung his right whip at her, however, when she moved to the side, she had not been anticipating him to swing the left whip so soon after. The whip wrapped around her, sending electric pulses through her suit causing it to short circuit. The electromagnets of her skates shut off and detached as the man yanked forward on the whip. Anna went flying forward before colliding with the ground.

Anna Stark was a mess. She couldn't move at first, her thoughts rattled as she tried to reboot her suit. Her skates were feet away and her suit was damaged from the whip. She shakily got to her feet, but it was almost too late.

Anna could only watch as her father continued to lay on the ground, the man approaching him and swinging the whips. Gasoline leaked from the wrecked racecar and the prodigy was terrified that she was about to witness her father perish in a fiery blaze. Just as the man swung the whip though, Tony leaped to his feet and away from the vehicle as it exploded. Tony patted out some fire that caught on his suit.

Suddenly, Happy, driving the Rolls Royce, barreled down the track towards the man, successfully pinning him against the fence. Tony leaped onto the fence to avoid getting hit and when the man was incapacitated he jumped off. Anna hurried to grab her skates and meet up with the others at the car, her suit having rebooted itself completely and the electromagnets were up and working again.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked, addressing everyone on the track.

"Yep. I'm just peachy," Anna replied just as Happy replied, "Yeah."

"Were you heading for me or him?" Tony asked, addressing Happy this time. He seemed to be highly irritated, but Anna rolled her eyes. Tony wasn't hit so no harm no foul, there were bigger fish to fry than arguing with each other. Again.

"I was trying to scare him," Happy explained, not appreciating Tony's tone.

"'Cause I can't tell!" Tony exclaimed, finishing his thought.

"Can we please not argue about this right now?" Anna chimed in.

Pepper finally coming to terms with what just happened turned her anger on Tony, "Are you out of your mind?!" Tony complained about needing better security. "Get in the car right now!" Anna glanced at the screaming woman, as the redhead turned to her too. "Anna get in the car!"

The group continued to yell at each other. Tony took no culpability in the situation, claiming it wasn't his fault he was attacked. Anna agreed, but if he never would have raced he would've had better security. Pepper and Happy continued to demand that the two Starks get in the car.

Tony went to open the car door, finally listening to his two friends all while complaining under his breath, "First vacation in two years." Suddenly, attention was drawn to the unknown man pinned to the fence as he sliced the door in half with a whip.

"Woah!" Anna yelled, just as Pepper screamed, "Oh my God!" Happy threw the car into reverse before putting it back in drive to ram into the man again.

"I got him!" Happy exclaimed.

"Hit him again! Hit him again!" Anna and Tony yelled.

Pepper continued to yell from the backseat as Happy rammed the man repeatedly into the fence. Tony yelled at Pepper for the Football but the motion of the car kept her from handing the heavy suitcase over. She screamed for Happy to stop banging the car. With one last bang, the airbags deployed in the car and the man was able to slice the car in half, eliciting more terrified yells from Pepper and Happy.

Tony attempted to calm Pepper down as the man cut another slice off the car.

"Give me the case!" Anna yelled at her, standing by where the car was sliced. Pepper chucked the case out onto the ground and Anna kicked it over to her father. Stepping on the case to activate it, the suit began to cover the older Stark. Once he was in the suit, he pushed the car out of the way, leaving just him and Anna to fight off the man. Before much can be done, the man wrapped the whips around Tony like he did with Anna earlier. Tossing him back and forth, Anna leaped in to grab one of the electric whips that had grabbed her earlier before it can hit her dad. The current passed into the suit, not as intense as the first time as her suit did not shutdown although it did falter a little. Glancing towards her dad, she saw him bent down, appearing to experience the same thing she did. He looked up and their eyes met despite both having helmets on.

"Follow my lead, Prodigy," he said. Standing from the crouched position, he began to walk towards the man, wrapping the electric whip around himself more and more so the man couldn't pull away. Anna did the same on the man's other side. The two Starks, once close enough, attacked. Tony punched the man in the gut while Anna threw a right hook at his face before they slammed him to the ground. As Anna pinned him, Tony reached down to grab the arc reactor from his check piece and ripped it out, disabling the electric whips.

The Stark duo detangled themselves from the whips and backed away from the man as the police came to retrieve him. The cheering of the crowd was drowned out as Anna turned to her dad. Glancing at the arc reactor in his hand, the only thing she could say was "How?"

"I don't know," he answered before crushing it to pieces. "But I'm gonna find out." As they walked back to Pepper and Happy, eager to get off the track, Tony looked back to his daughter, "Good work out there Prodigy." The younger Stark smiled at the praise, bumps and bruises aside.

"Thanks."

* * *

First responders swarmed the track after the fight along with some other personnel. Somehow, Jake was able to get down to meet them, which Anna was very thankful for. He spotted her easily since she thankfully had her helmet off.

Rushing forward, he pulled Anna into a tight hug. The metal suit made it a bit awkward and uncomfortable, not to mention her injuries, but she appreciated the hug nonetheless. They pulled away from each other and Anna smirked up at him.

"Thank the Lord for quick and efficient coat check attendants," she joked.

"No kidding. Also, nice right hook. Glad the boxing lessons are paying off," he replied with a chuckle before growing serious. "Really though, I'm glad you're okay. I don't know what I'd do without you and when you were just laying there after he got you, I thought the worst."

Anna reached forward to grab his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere, okay? We have way too many things we still need to do. I mean, my bucket list has barely been touched. Besides, us Starks are like cockroaches, you can try and kill us as much as you want but we'll still survive, even through the apocalypse." Jake cracked a smile. Throwing his arm around Anna's shoulders, he led her to a waiting ambulance.

"Come on. It's time to take the suit off and get you checked out. You were just tossed around like a ragdoll." Anna stopped walking, remembering her lack of clothing beneath the suit.

"Yeah about that. I only have a bra and shorts on underneath this, and no one," she gestured to the surrounding crowd that remained from the race, "gets that show for free. They at least have to buy me dinner first."

"What happened to your dress?"

"Well, when someone was attempting to murder my dad, I ditched it in a closet somewhere. I don't really remember where."

Jake sighed, taking off his suit jacket and handing it to Anna.

Anna raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to toss it at her so she would catch it. Instead, she just let it fall to the ground. "Seriously," he scolded, exasperated as he picked it up off the ground, "Take it. We aren't leaving until the EMTs clear you, and you won't take the suit off until you have something to cover up with. So, cover up with this," he explained handing her the jacket again. Glancing around to make sure there were no eyes on her, she quickly hit the button to collapse her suit back into its backpack shape and covered herself in the jacket, buttoning it so it stayed closed.

"Thanks, friend," she stated as she approached the ambulance.

Jake followed her over, shaking his head, "Anytime."

* * *

After getting a few burns and scrapes treated by the EMTs, Anna was cleared and returned back to the hotel with Jake. They quickly packed their belongings, their departure date having been changed immediately. Anna hadn't seen her father since the attack, but Pepper had assured her he was fine and just trying to find answers. The group boarded the Stark private plane and began their flight back to LAX airport. Anna and Jake retreated to their own area of the plane to give Pepper and Tony some space.

Jake was on his tablet doing… something. Anna didn't really know what he was up to but she was too tired to pry. The exhaustion from the racetrack was finally setting in, the adrenaline having long since worn off. As she laid on the bed, eyes drooping, she could hear the voice of that political asshole, Senator Stern.

"It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realizing, 'These suits exist now'. Not to mention that we now know his daughter had a suit of her own this whole time. It's one thing for a grown man to have control of this technology, but Miss. Stark is barely of legal age. Allowing either Stark to have these suits is a mistake."

"He's full of shit," Jake said, meeting Anna's tired, glassy eyes.

"I know," she replied through a yawn. "But now the cat's out of the bag and I can't help but think that while he may just be one asshole, there're thousands that not only agreed with him already but will soon enough."

Jake set his tablet down and laid on the bed next to her. "You saved the day. Remember that. No regrets, right?"

Jake could always make her feel better, "No regrets, always."

"Good. Now get some shut-eye kid, you deserve it." Not soon after the words left his mouth, Anna fell into a deep sleep.

Anna stood on a beach she didn't recognize. The water wasn't the deep blue that she had surfed on multiple times before, but instead, it was crystal blue water that lapped at the white sand shore. She wadded into the water until it reached the hem of the loose, white dress she was wearing. The scene was peaceful a serene as she stared out at the horizon line.

"You know, if you sail far enough, eventually you'll hit the homeland," a gentle, feminine voice said to her left, startling her.

"What?" Anna said, confused by the beautiful woman's words. She too wore a short white dress, only she had a lacey shawl draped around her shoulders as well. A long, royal blue crystal that hung from a chain around her neck caught Anna's eyes before she continued her examination of the woman. Her long chocolate-colored hair swayed with the light breeze and her whiskey-colored eyes filled Anna with a familiar warmth.

"The homeland. Cuba," the other woman, who was maybe a few years older than Anna herself, chuckled at the confusion apparent on Anna's face. "That's what your grandpa used to call it once we relocated here. Although he knew it was best for us to leave, he never wanted us to forget where we came from."

Grandpa? Anna's confusion was growing by the second. Suddenly, like a dam bursting, the memories came flooding back. She remembered the pictures that used to fill the Starks' old home until Tony had the mansion built. When they moved to the mansion, the pictures never left the boxes they had been packed into. Anna had been four at the time and didn't understand her father's grief until she got older.

She examined the woman's appearance again before her voice croaked, tears welling in her eyes, "Mom?"

"Phew, I was beginning to think you didn't know who I was. It's nice to know you got your memory from me and not your father. He could never remember anything. Although, who's to say he was ever actually trying. He always relied on me a little too much about frivolous things like exam dates, doctor's appointments, birthdays… Despite his brilliance, which don't tell him I called him brilliant, he'll get a big head about it, not that he doesn't already have one, anyway… despite that, he never would've graduated MIT when he did if it hadn't been for me," she joked with a roll of her eyes.

Anna couldn't hold back anymore. She leaped forward, giving the mother she never got a chance to know a tight hug.

"Don't worry, mija. I'm not going anywhere just yet," Sofia said, stroking her daughter's hair comfortingly.

"What happened to you?" Anna said, silent tears leaking from her eyes. "Dad always said that you got sick but no one knew exactly what was wrong with you. The doctors were clueless."

Sofia wiped the stray tears away with her thumbs, "I was sick Anna. But, it wasn't anyone's fault I didn't get better. The doctors couldn't have done anything anyway. No human could."

Human? Anna couldn't help but question her mother's choice of words. They just sounded off.

"Listen to me, Anna. You were so brave today. You protect your father so much. From his 'friends' and his enemies, but soon you may have to protect him from himself, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Although the topic was beginning to confuse Anna again, she heard what he mother was saying. Hell, she was practically hanging on every word that came out of her mouth, but she couldn't quite wrap her head around what it all meant. Regardless, she agreed, "Yeah mom, I can do it."

"I know you don't quite get where this is all coming from just yet, but you will. You are a very special girl, Annabel. Don't ever forget that." It had been so long since Anna had heard anyone call her by her full name. Everyone knew her as Anna, so everyone called her Anna. But, Annabel felt so right hearing it from her mother.

"I won't," Anna responded.

Suddenly, a loud roar, like a plane engine disrupted the serenity of the beach. The two women looked up and saw the Stark private jet flying overhead.

"Unfortunately, that's our cue, mija," Sofia informed her daughter. At the comment, anxiety immediately filled Anna. She didn't want to go, not yet. They had so much to catch up on, seventeen years of memories. "Don't worry, we see each other soon. Kick some ass for me, alright?"

Before Anna could respond, the picturesque beach faded to black and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was staring at the ceiling of the Stark plane. Sitting up and stretching her arms above her head, she heard someone enter the room. Looking up she spotted Jake standing in the doorway. "Oh good your awake. You slept for like twelve hours. Your sleep schedule is screwed now."

Anna smiled. "Thank you jetlag," she replied sarcastically. "So, what's up?"

"Not much. Your dad is passed out on the couch. Pepper is doing damage control. And the plane should descend to refuel in about an hour. Then we can get some real food, all while avoiding paparazzi."

"Sounds like a good time to me," Anna smirked. Jake turned to leave the room while Anna thought back on her dream. It was so real, so lucid. She never really met her mom, yet the woman in her dreams knew things Anna didn't and spoke in such a way Anna knew it didn't just come from her memories.

Anna's stomach growled loudly, interrupting her thoughts. She couldn't dwell on her dream much more until she got some food in her stomach. Standing from her seat on the bed, she left the bedroom to try and find a bag of chips or something to hold her over until they landed. Catching sight of her dad reclined on the couch, she recalled her mother's warning. "Soon you may have to protect him from himself, okay? Can you do that?"

"I can do it, mom."

* * *

 **Wow. Yeah, I know. I suck.**

 **Anyway… here's a long-awaited chapter. Thank you all for your patience. I hope to get another chapter out soon since I have a 2-week break from graduate school. Working full-time as well as going to school this summer kicked my ass more than I expected and once I start school again at the end of the month, I'm not quite sure what my schedule will be like since I'm moving to the night shift. That means I work 12 hours from 5 pm to 5 am. Pray for me.**

 **Like I said though, I hope to have a chapter updated in about a week for this story as well as my story Kelda, which is a Bucky Barnes story and a companion piece to this. I want to have both of those stories completed before I move onto the Avengers because it will kinda mash-up the two.**

 **Thanks again for the patience and support!**


	10. Chapter 9

" **I knew some people who pretend they got your back**

 **Until you give 'em what they want and they disappear, fuckin' magic I guess**

 **What the heck?**

 **I know some people who built a reputation**

 **But I gave 'em second chances until I saw what they're made of I guess**

 **And they're a fuckin' mess"**

 **\- Dustin Atlas and Erin Bowman, Fake Ass Friends**

* * *

Life had been a whirlwind for Anna following the events in Monaco. The media continued to cover the event three days later like it just happened and everybody had an opinion on it. As much as Anna had gotten used to media pressure and speculation from being in the spotlight her entire life, this new attention she was receiving was unlike the rest. Anna Stark was once America's Sweetheart but now she was looked at like some sort of incompetent teenager who had no idea what she was doing and shouldn't be trusted with her own inventions. She had never been deemed so untrustworthy, been told she wasn't good enough. Never scolded by an entire country for doing something good, for saving her dad! Now instead of being called Prodigy, she was being called a vigilante. And this was one incident!

Jake invited Anna to go out with him for the day, trying to help her get her mind off the press coverage. The whole thing was causing her to shut down mentally. The truth was Anna liked the feeling she got after Monaco. She liked saving people and helping them. The adrenaline rush she got was like nothing she had ever felt before. Not like in a daredevil sort of way, but it made her heart swell with pride that she actually made a difference in the world.

The two of them went out to lunch in disguise. It was kind of last minute though, so their disguises… well, their disguises sucked. Sunglasses and baseball caps were not as concealing as some may believe, despite what the movies make people think. Especially when everyone is on the lookout for the Starks. Sitting at the outside table at one of their favorite cafes, the two friends tried to remain inconspicuous.

"It's just frustrating y'know?" Anna vented to Jake. "Like, why was I America's Sweetheart simply for being my father's daughter and graduating college at the same age he did and all the other stupid insignificant bullshit. But, now, I'm not, and it's because I helped stop a frickin' Russian terrorist! Like what the hell, right?!"

Jake's eyebrow furrowed in worry for his best friend as she tried not to raise her voice but didn't quite succeed. The server dropped the checks off at the table and the two friends paid quickly so that they could get back to Jake's apartment. The duo walked down the road a bit, to where Jake parked his car, the conversation put on pause until they were in the safety of his black Range Rover that Anna helped him pick out. Suddenly, from one of the side streets, a news van pulled up and blocked their path. Jake grabbed Anna's wrist, protectively pulling her behind him as the cameraman exited the side door ahead of a reporter. The reporter immediately began rattling off questions at Anna, who was too shocked to process what was happening. Jake gently pushed her back before turning them around to try to get away. When they turned around, they were confronted by other photographers and reporters, all speaking at the same time, sending Anna into a stunned silence.

Overwhelmed by the shouting of questions, recorders and microphones being shoved in her face, the flashing of cameras, and the overall violation of her personal space, the only thing Anna could bring herself to do was grip Jake's hand so tight she believed she may be cutting off his circulation. The young Stark couldn't even pick out a single question or comment they were saying in the chaos. Jake, however, could hear what they were asking and was becoming increasingly angry as the media circus persisted.

"Anna, your suit, what makes you believe you should be allowed to handle such a weapon?" one reporter called.

"Why would your father allow you to have a suit? Is he encouraging these self-destructive tendencies?" another added.

One comment particularly angered Jake. If Anna would have been processing the information, she would be angry too. But she wasn't processing anything, so Jake got angry for her. "What would your mother think of your intervention in Monaco?"

Anna covered her face as the camera flashes became more frequent. Her breathing grew heavier, her chest ached, and anxiety filled her veins.

Jake, who was busy trying to push their way through the crowd, noticed one particular photographer push his way between him and Anna, cutting her off from him and isolating her. Jake stopped immediately and turned around to retrieve her, but was blocked off by the photographer. Anna tried to push herself away, but she was caged in by the ever-growing mob of people.

Having had enough, Jake grabbed the photographer by the shoulder and roughly shoved him out of the way, making him stumble and almost fall to the ground. "Everyone needs to back up now!" the dark-haired man bellowed out over the crowd. The questions paused momentarily at his outburst until one brave and stupid paparazzi approached the two friends again. Jake gave the man another rough shove away. "I suggest you get that camera out of our faces before I smash it to pieces," Jake growled in anger. The man's eyes widened at the threat, and the paparazzi started to back off a bit. As they gave the friends some space, Jake continued, "And if anyone else decides they want to stop us from leaving, I'll break more than just your camera."

With that final remark, he grabbed a shocked Anna's hand and escorted her to his car, trying to remove her from the situation as quickly as possible. The entire drive back to the mansion, the young Stark remains silent, something Jake is not used. He is worried about his best friend. Usually, Anna was the one who never cared what people thought; at least that's how she appeared anyway. But everyone had their breaking point and the eighteen-year-old Stark finally reached hers.

Pulling up in front of the mansion, Anna exited the vehicle before it was even placed in park. Quickly, she entered the mansion with Jake not too far behind. Vaguely, she hears JARVIS greet her and she sees Pepper and Natalie in the living room, talking on their phones and typing away on tablets. When the door shuts behind her, she knows Jake followed her in. The stress of their encounter with the paparazzi is just now settling as she replays what happened in her head over and over again.

"Anna—," he started before she cut him off.

"What were you thinking?" she snapped at him with narrowed eyes, causing his expression of worry to twist into one of confusion.

"Wait, what?"

"What were you thinking?" she repeated. "'I'll break more than just your camera.' Threatening them was the best thing you could come up with?"

"They mobbed us, Anna! What else could I have done? They weren't just gonna leave us alone out of the goodness of their hearts!" Their argument was growing louder and had effectively caught the attention of Pepper and Natalie.

"Whoa, what happened?" Pepper tried but was ignored as the two friends continued to go at it.

"You just made it worse! Don't you get that? Anna Stark, incompetent teenager exhibiting the same self-destructive tendencies of her father, now has a crazy friend who threatens paparazzi! Great, it's just great!" Before Jake could say anything else about how she was overreacting and she needed to just take a breath and listen to his side, she had already retreated to her bedroom.

Jake let out a frustrated groan and ran his hand through his hair, letting his best friend go to blow off some steam. She was self-destructing. But, not because of the reasons given by the media, but because of the media itself. The amount of pressure she was under was excruciating. Pepper stood up to follow her but was stopped before she could get too far.

"Let me try and talk to her," Natalie volunteered, surprising the other two in the room. They both allowed the young red-haired woman to follow the Stark girl, stepping back for once. As Natalie walked away, Pepper turned to Jake.

"What the hell happened?" she questioned him, not used to seeing Anna get so upset. Before he could answer her, Tony and Rhodey came up from the workshop, wondering what all the yelling was about and where Anna was. Jake took a deep breath, ready to explain what happened.

Meanwhile, Natalie stood outside Anna's door, the sound of Frankie Valli's Can't Take My Eyes Off of You drifting into the hallway. The redhead rapped on the door softly, but there was no answer or response. She slowly opened the door and poked her head inside to check on the younger girl. "Hey," she greeted gently, but Anna didn't respond. The Stark girl continued to lay on her bed, eyes closed and humming along to the music. Natalie took a seat next to her on the bed and attempted to start a conversation. "Great song choice," she tries. "I don't know many eighteen-year-olds that listen to this kind of music."

There was a moment of silence before Anna finally spoke up. "Well, I'm not like most eighteen-year-olds." Natalie glanced over at her, but her eyes were still closed.

"That's true," the redhead agreed, a soft smile on her face.

Anna opened her eyes and turned to glance at Natalie before returning her stare to the ceiling. "My dad said my mom used to sing this song to me all the time when I was little. Apparently, she was a big fan of the Four Seasons. I've been listening to them a lot lately, but I keep coming back to this song. It makes me feel closer to her." The conversation paused again.

Natalie was relieved though, that Anna actually opened up a bit. But truly, Anna didn't know why she offered up that information. She felt an odd comfort around Natalie. The redhead was not someone she expected to like originally, thinking that she just took the job to get close to Tony. However, over the last few weeks, Anna saw that there was more to her than that. She was still an outsider in the tight-knit group, family, that Anna had grown up with, but that's what Anna liked about her. Tony was her dad, and Pepper, Happy, and Jake were as good as family too. With Natalie though, she didn't have to worry about her sugarcoating things just to make her feel better. She could trust the redhead enough to be honest with her about the reality of things.

"I understand you know," Natalie tried to start conversation again. Anna scoffed. Okay, maybe Natalie was just trying to make her feel better a little bit, Anna thought.

"Oh do you?" Anna replied sarcastically.

"Yes. I know what it's like to go against the grain, go against what is expected of you. This world wants you to be the perfect daughter who will go on to inherit Stark Industries and invent things that will change things for the better. However, they also want you to do it their way and play by their rules. You found a different way to do it though. The world doesn't always see different as a good thing. You are a great daughter to Mr. Stark. I can already see that after just a few weeks. I can also tell that you're intelligent and have this goodness and maturity to you that not many girls your age have. You're right, you aren't like other eighteen-year-olds. And that's okay, because everything that makes you different, makes you a hero."

Anna sat up at Natalie's words, paying close attention to what she was saying. The redhead continued, "Stop focusing on the negative of what happened in Monaco. For every person that questions and doubts you, there are more who support you and think you're a hero too. You may not be quietly working in a lab day after day, inventing things that the world thinks it needs. You invented an amazing suit and you helped Mr. Stark stop that man. You saved people that day. Don't ever regret your decisions." As she finished, she turned the television in Anna's room on to continue to make her point.

Anna glanced at the television only to see a news anchor speaking about the incident. She quickly grabbed the remote, ready to turn it off and preparing for the negativity only for the reporter's words to stop her.

"Despite what some on Capitol Hill may think, Tony and Anna Stark were heroes in Monaco. The two of them thwarted a terrorist attack on their own. Yet, some people still have the gall to try to tell Miss Stark that she can't use her own invention. Some of these people even support her father as the Ironman. Using her age is a pitiful excuse. She's an adult. Not to mention success-wise, she is much further along than many who are much older than she is. She commits an act of true heroism, yet she faces backlash. It's ridiculous."

"You see," Natalie started, turning Anna's attention back to her. "I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"Thank you," Anna replied. "I was so swept up in the negative press, sometimes the positive comments didn't stick with me like they should have."

"Glad I could be of help. That is what I'm here for," Natalie said with a polite smile.

Anna chuckled. "Yeah. Maybe you could help me with this press stuff sometime. I know I could always ask Pepper and everything but she's been kinda busy now that she's CEO."

"She would make time for you."

"I know. But, I don't want to bother her. So, would you?"

"Of course, Miss Stark."

Anna rolled her eyes at the formality. "Please, after this whole ordeal, just call me Anna."

"Of course, Anna." Natalie stood to leave the room, but the Stark prodigy stopped her.

"Wait. Before you go, I wanted to know if you would help me with something else." Natalie gave her a nod, waiting for her to continue. "So… you still haven't taught me how you knocked Happy on his ass at the gym. Would you?" Natalie gave a smirk that matched the one Anna had on her face.

"Why not?" Natalie agreed.

"Can we do it now?" Anna asked sheepishly. She knew it was very last minute, and that Natalie was probably busy, but she had a lot of frustration from everything that she wanted to unleash.

An unsure look crossed Natalie's face, "I would have to check with Miss Potts."

"I'll work it out with her, I swear." Anna rushed out, hopeful for the stress relief.

"Alright then." The two women exited the bedroom and went downstairs. Anna was shocked to see not only Jake and Pepper in the living room where she left them, but also that Tony and Rhodey had joined them. She makes eye contact with Jake and walks over to him.

Anna wrapped her arms around him to give him a tight hug, which was gladly reciprocated. The two friends could never stay mad at each other long. Pulling back from the hug, she met his eyes again. "I am so sorry," she apologized. "I overreacted. I took everything out on you and you were only trying to help me. I know I shouldn't care what they say, but I do. And even though you said those things to support me, I cared more about what they thought then I did about what you thought. But, what you think of me is much more important, and I was such an ass. Do you forgive me?"

"Of course I do. You don't need to apologize. I get it. I just have never seen you that upset and the way they circled us like vultures put me on edge. I'm sorry I upset you. You might be an ass, but so am I. That's why we get along so well, right?" he replied.

Anna laughed and the others in the room smiled at the two friends, "Right."

"Everything good then kiddo?" Tony asked his daughter. He was caught up on what happened by Jake and worried about his daughter when he heard some of the things the reporters said.

"Yeah. I think so." Anna turned to Pepper, "So, Natalie offered to go to the gym with me today. Can we go? I know you may still need her but it would be great to relieve some of this stress." After hearing of the day she had, there was no way Pepper could turn her down.

"Of course, Anna. Ms. Rushman, you're free to go. I'll be sure to message you if anything comes up."

Natalie nodded to Pepper before Anna led her out of the living room, all too willing to learn to kick some ass.

* * *

The following four days leading up to Tony's birthday party went a lot more smoothly for Anna. Jake was called out of town for a family emergency but Anna was okay because she continued to spend more time with Natalie at the gym as well as continuing her palladium research. Before Jake had left though, Anna made sure that they had made up completely after their fight. She showed up to his apartment with all of his favorites: pizza from his favorite hole-in-the-wall family pizzeria, his favorite microbrew beer—which she hated—and a stack of his favorite movies including Office Space, Dodgeball, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Dogma, and the Blues Brothers. She stayed the night at his place while they binged on junk food and quoted the movies as if they had seen them a hundred times before… which they had.

When Jake was called out of town the next day, Anna wished him well and returned back to the mansion. There she met up with Natalie and roped the redhead into going to the gym with her again. The following days they went to the gym together. Though Anna's muscles ached from the exercise, muscles she didn't even know she had, she loved every second of it. During the breaks in between workouts, Natalie helped her work on how to blow off the paparazzi and by doing so, Anna regained some of the self-confidence she had recently lost. When Natalie was pulled away for work with Pepper, Anna would wander down to the lab and continue going through any research she could find, trying to figure out a replacement for the palladium killing her dad.

Unfortunately, Tony's big birthday bash was still a go. Anna had tried to convince her dad to cancel it after everything that had happened over the past week, but she had little luck. That meant that any free time was spent planning the party at the mansion. If anything, Anna wished he had changed the venue so her house wouldn't be a mess after the evening. Now, even if the younger Stark retreated to her room, she would still hear the pumping of the bass speakers.

Not that Anna didn't love a good party, because she definitely did. She just felt it was too soon after the Monaco incident and while she felt better about it, she still wasn't ready to face everyone. Plus, Jake, her rock, was gone and the only people her age that would be in attendance would be the same fake people she had been avoiding for three years. Her old "friends," otherwise known as the Unholy Trinity… at least to her they were.

The night of Tony's birthday, Anna looked out her window and watched as cars pulled up in front of the mansion. Sighing, she decided to finally make her appearance. Not feeling a dress tonight, the Stark prodigy instead decided to wear a nice blouse and a pair of black skinny jeans in addition to her heels. Making her way down the stairs to the party, she kept her eyes peeled for someone, anyone, she recognized. But, she couldn't find anyone. No Rhodey or Pepper, no Natalie or Happy, and not even her own dad. Great, she thought to herself as she made her way to the bar to get a drink. She opted for a Coke, deciding for once that maybe it was best if she stayed away from alcohol for the night since there were plenty of prying eyes around, waiting for her to trip up and make a mistake. With her drink clutched tightly in her left hand, she weaved through the crowds of people dancing and mingling. She had almost made it to the other side of the room when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

"Long time no see, Annie," a familiar British accent spoke from behind her. Shit, Anna thought, of course, she would run into him. Turning to face the man who spoke, Anna plastered on the nicest smile she could muster. It was incredibly fake.

"Mark, of course, you're here," Anna said, smile still in place, although now it could be mistaken as a grimace. Mark Atlas was the son of Arthur Atlas, the CEO of Atlas Worldwide, one of the biggest development companies in the world. Anna had met Mark when she was still in high school before she graduated early and moved on to MIT. He had also been her first boyfriend. It didn't end well. "Where's the rest of the group?" By that, she meant the rest of the Unholy Trinity.

Mark shot Anna that charming smile that had roped her in the first time she met him. She was a sucker for a nice smile. Well, she used to be. "Oh, Shelby and Jay are grabbing some drinks."

"Great, well I gotta go," she tried to make a break for it, but Mark wasn't letting her off that easily.

"Oh, wait, here they come now." Just then, Shelby Dutch and Jay Molina approached the two and Anna just wanted to die.

Shelby Dutch's father, Richard Dutch, got his fame in the fashion industry with his Duchess line that garnered worldwide attention, while Jay Molina's mother, Josie, was some big actress in Mexico. While Anna also knew Shelby through school, she knew Jay because his brother, Oscar, was an attorney that worked for Stark Industries. They were once her friends, her best friends, but that was in the past now.

"Hey babe," Shelby greeted Mark, looping her arm around his. Of course, they're dating now, Anna thought, well officially. That was what had torn them apart. Mark cheated on Anna with Shelby, which led to Anna finding out that Mark was only dating her because of who her dad was. Jay, who Anna believed would have stuck by her, apparently was so far up Mark's ass that she lost all her friends in the dispute. However, at least Oscar still gave Anna hope that not all Molina men were jerks. He had tried to apologize for his younger brother's behavior after the shit hit the fan, and not just to save his own ass either. It was genuine, Anna could tell.

However, now, confronted with her three ex-friends, Anna could feel her anger towards them increasing the longer they were in her presence.

"Anna, what's up?" Jay greeted as if they were all still friends. It pissed Anna off even more.

"Oh, not much. Just enjoying my dad's party," the younger Stark answered through clenched teeth.

"I love your outfit," Shelby complimented, but Anna could tell she didn't mean it.

"Thanks," Anna dragged out, having had enough of the niceties. "Well, I'll be going now." Any attempts to remove herself from the conversation weren't even disguised at this point.

"Wait, I just gotta ask," Jay started, "How's it feel to be a superhero now Annie?" So that's why they were being so nice because now she was not only Tony Stark's daughter but also Ironman's sidekick.

Anna decided to ignore the question and instead let out all the anger she was feeling towards the three. "And I just gotta ask you guys, are we in the Twilight Zone or something?" Anna paused as they looked at each other confused, trying to figure out the correct answer to her rhetorical question. "Because last time I checked, we aren't friends. We apparently never were friends. And, we're never going to be friends. So let's drop the act and just be real for once. This conversation was over before it started and let's never try to repeat it, okay? Remove yourself from my presence. Bye." She waved at the group in a sarcastic fashion, before pushing around them. The only response she got from them was a scoff of disbelief from Shelby, and a "damn" from Jay while Mark looked pissed at her brushing them off.

Going back on her previous rule of not drinking any alcohol tonight, Anna thought she could allow herself one drink after that encounter. She approached the bar again, setting down her old glass and ordered a drink from the bartender.

"Holy shit, I didn't think anyone was ever going to tell my baby brother off for acting like such a douche," another familiar voice said. Anna groaned, having had enough unexpected reunions for the night. She turned to her right to see Oscar Molina, the better Molina, leaning next to her against the bar. The dread left her as she smiled at him before reaching up for a hug.

"Haha, thanks," Anna said, taking a sip of her drink.

"No problem," Oscar said with a smirk. "Aren't you a little young to drink?"

"What? Are you gonna narc on me or something?" Anna teased him back.

Oscar chuckled. "Hell no. Not after that wonderful display I just witnessed." Anna couldn't help but smile at the attractive man. After Anna and Mark broke up and the whole friend group imploded, Anna grew to have a small crush on the older Molina. He was attractive and funny and nice. And she had always had a thing for older guys. Granted, nothing would've happened. She was only fifteen at the time and he was twenty-four, so that was a no-go. There was also the problem that he saw her as a younger sister, ouch. But, even now, Anna could remember why she liked him so much, even though they hadn't seen each other in a couple years.

Oscar took a sip of his drink before turning to the younger Stark. "And hey, great job out there in Monaco. I knew you were bound for great things. I mean, when you were accepted to MIT, I was proud of you, kid. Not just because it got you out of the LA drama, but also because you could make a name for yourself away from your dad a bit. Not saying I don't love your dad, he did give me this job y'know. But, it gave you time to grow up outside of his shadow. And look at you now. Prodigy doesn't cut it." Anna smiled at the praise, remembering how her MIT acceptance came only a month after her and Mark's breakup.

"Thanks, Oscar. That really means a—," Anna was cut off when her attention was drawn to the stage where the DJ was set up. Tony was stumbling around, drunk, while fully clad in the Ironman suit. He held a full bottle of champagne, which he proceeded to drop scattering glass everywhere. "Holy shit!" Anna exclaimed, leaving her glass at the bar and moving through the crowd.

Tony grabbed a microphone and started speaking as Anna got closer, "You know, the question I get asked most often is, 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?'" He paused for a second, closing his eyes. "Just like that."

Anna knew she must have had a look of horror on her face as she muttered, "Oh my god," to herself. Just then, Pepper got on stage and stole the microphone from Tony before he could do anything else.

"Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?" she started, throwing in a nervous laugh that could be mistaken as real. Tony bent down to say 'I love you' to the crowd in the microphone as Pepper gently pushed him back. "Unbelievable! Thank you so much. Tony, we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. And we're gonna say goodnight now, and thank you all for coming." Groans of disappointment rang from the crowd.

Anna got to the stage and tried to usher her dad down at Pepper's words, but Tony wasn't having it. "No, no, no, we can't," he tried. "Wait, wait, wait. We didn't have the cake. We didn't blow out the candles."

Anna grabbed his attention. "No. No cake. No candles. You are acting crazy right now. Can you please get down off the stage?"

Pepper added to Anna's pleas. "You're out of control, okay? Trust me on this, okay?"

Tony was too drunk to grasp what they were saying though. Instead, he tried to kiss Pepper in front of everyone, but Pepper leaned away. "You just peed in the suit," she tried again, as Anna watched on, embarrassment filling her from head to toe.

"I know. It has a filtration system," Tony countered.

"It's not sexy."

"You could drink that water."

Anna decided to stop the back and forth, "Okay, dad, no. You need to send everyone home now. It's time to wrap this up. I'm done. I wanna go to sleep and you should too."

"If you say so," the billionaire responded to his daughter. Pepper gave him back the microphone as he handed her the bottle. "Pepper Potts and my lovely daughter, Anna. They're right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago." Anna dropped her head into her hands, knowing where this was going. "The after-party starts in fifteen minutes. And if anybody, Pepper and Anna, doesn't like it, there's the door!" As he motioned to the stairs, he accidentally shot off the repulsor on his suit, causing the glass to shatter and all the drunk people in the room to cheer.

Anna was at her wit's end though. Protect him from himself, she recalled her mother's words. She climbed on stage and yanked the microphone away from her dad. Completely serious, she looked at him and said, "Take the suit off now. I'm far from kidding dad."

"Oh Anna, relax. Have some fun."

"It's kinda impossible to have fun when I am watching you self-destruct." Not letting him respond, she held the microphone up to her mouth, "Excuse Tony. He forgets that he's not the only person that lives here sometimes." Anna shot Tony a dirty look. "That being said. Everyone needs to get out of my house now!" People began to boo at her but she didn't give in. They were all as bad as Mark, Shelby, and Jay. They didn't care about her or her dad. Not really. "Oh yeah, keep booing me. Keep it coming. Doesn't change the fact that if you're still here in thirty seconds, I'm calling the cops!"

Tony grabbed the microphone from his daughter again, "She's just kidding everyone! The after-party is still on!"

Anna turned to her dad, seething, "I live here too. Can't you just stop and think about what you're doing for a second?! You're not the only one that's going to be affected by what you're doing right now!"

"Anna relax."

"Don't tell me to relax. You think these people are your friends? These people aren't your friends. To them, you're a party trick!" Tony frowned at his daughter just as a really drunk girl stepped forward and threw a bottle of champagne up in the air. Tony shot it with his suit, causing the liquid to rain down everywhere. Anna flinched away from the shattering glass, before getting off the stage. She was done trying to talk sense into him. The same drunk girl and her friend continued to throw things in the air for Tony to shoot down.

"I'm done with this bullshit," Anna said, pushing her way to the back of the crowd to find Pepper.

Suddenly, Rhodey's voice sounded throughout the room, "I'm only gonna say this once. Get out." Anna looked at him to see him in the War Machine armor. Everyone fled from the house, afraid to come in between the two Ironman suits. Anna went outside, meeting up with Pepper as the two began to face off.

Outside as a bystander to the fight, Anna watched as the two destroyed her house. "That's it. I can't watch this anymore." The younger Stark ran back inside the half-destroyed mansion and into the workshop to grab her own suit. Quickly suiting up, she heard the two crash through the floor above her. Returning to the ground level, she saw Happy run out to grab Pepper and bring her back outside. Tony punched Rhodey's knee out before picking him up and slamming him on the ground.

"That's enough," Anna called out in her own suit.

"Stay out of this Prodigy," Tony told her, not even looking towards her and Rhodey got to his feet.

"You made that kinda impossible dad."

Walking forward, she throws an uppercut at her dad, making him fly back and hit the ground. He got up and held his hands up. "I'm not gonna hurt you Anna," Tony tried.

"Oh, I'm counting on it." She stood between him and Rhodey. "Take off the suit and this ends now."

Tony didn't listen to her though and turned on his thrusters and launching himself at her. She ducked out of the way but doing so left Rhodey wide open. Tony clashed into Rhodey, sending them both to the ground. The two threw a couple punches at each other before Tony slammed Rhodey through the countertop. Turning to face the crowd and let out a loud yell, scaring them off.

"Congrats, dad. Now you scared off all you adoring fans," Anna quipped sarcastically. Tony turned towards her, not realizing Rhodey had gotten back up behind him with the countertop clutched in his hands. Rhodey swung the countertop at him, knocking Tony into the wall and fireplace when Anna dodged out of the way.

Tony pulled himself from the wall and pointed a repulsor at Rhodey and Rhodey did the same. "Put your hand down," Rhodey ordered.

"Whoa, guys, both of you stop now," Anna demanded as she stepped forward, but not quite coming between the two.

Tony was more focused on his friend though, "You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?"

"We don't have to do this, Tony," Rhodey warned.

"You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot."

"Put it down!"

"You gonna take the shot?"

"Both of you put it down now!" Anna tried again, but they wouldn't listen to her, continuing their standoff.

Eventually, they both took the shot and a large blast filled the room sending all three of the flying backward. Anna came to and saw the flickering of the lights overhead. She stood up, a little uneasy on her feet as her display restarted. She caught sight of Rhodey in the War Machine armor and shook her head.

"Just take it," Anna said. She didn't care what Rhodey did with the armor at this point. Turning to Tony, who stood from the rubble that was once her home, Anna removed her helmet.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Anna questioned him.

"Not now Anna," he replied, removing his own helmet.

"No. Now, dad. Are you actively trying to ruin your life? Do you just not care anymore?" Tears began to build up in her eyes. These self-destructive tendencies, the overuse of the suit, she wasn't an idiot. She knew what this was about. "What are your palladium levels, dad?"

He didn't answer her, which only made her realize how right she was. "What are your palladium levels?!" she yelled at him.

"Eighty-nine percent. Probably higher now." Anna couldn't help the light sob that escaped her. How her dad was still alive was beyond her? With eighty-nine percent blood toxicity, he could go any day now.

"Why didn't you tell me how high it got? Are you even trying anymore? You've just given up, haven't you? While I've been having JARVIS run test after test and looking into every possible way to save you."

Tony looked up at his daughter, eyes red from unshed tears. "I tried Anna. JARVIS tested every element. There is no suitable replacement for the palladium."

"So you did just throw in the towel. Okay fine. But, you decided that this was how you wanted me to remember you? Acting like an ass in front of people who couldn't give a shit about you instead of telling me so we could spend time together or going on an actual vacation with Pepper since Monaco was a bust. But no, you decided to become the old Tony that didn't give a shit about anything. Good to know." She walked outside where the crowd had once been standing. "I'm going to Jake's since you destroyed our house. Let me know when you're done being an ass."

Anna put her helmet back on and skated off to Jake's house in record time. She collapsed her suit back into its backpack shape and found the spare key outside of Jake's apartment since she didn't have any of her belongings. Shedding her outfit from the party, she changed into a pair of Jake's sweatpants and a t-shirt before collapsing in his bed and crying herself to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Anna was woken up before seven o'clock when her phone beeped. The sun was up, but Anna was exhausted, having gotten less than five hours of sleep. Grabbing her phone from the nightstand, Anna looked and saw she had a text message from an unknown, blocked number.

 _Meet at Randy's Donuts in five minutes._

 _Wear your suit._

The text was suspicious, to say the least. Anna thought about blowing it off, but something in the back of her mind was nagging at her to go. Besides, worst comes to worst, she's in a super suit and can kick some ass. So, without even changing from the clothes she slept in, Anna donned her suit and took off to Randy's Donuts.

* * *

 **Thanks everyone so much for the support and patience! Meant to have this out last week and had about half of it typed but then I kinda hated it and needed to rework it. Still not completely happy with it but I wanted to get something out. Didn't help that I got sick and felt like death either lol.**

 **ANYWAY... the next chapter will the first semi-introduction of Cap and another OC character of mine from my Bucky/OC story, Klara.**

 **Only a few chapters left of Iron Man 2 and then some original chapters before I begin my new story for the Avenges!**

 **Enjoy and let me know what you think!**


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